Fixing Life
by The Writer Of Lucifenia
Summary: Sequel to The Clock Is Ticking New Nada Series. After years of tears, Yang is brought to Innopolous, Utopia by a young faunus girl named Mei-Yuki, claiming to be her niece. Meanwhile, Jade struggles to find her long lost mother. And it isn't easy being royalty! Molly, Jake, Jeni, Cassandra, and Will can assure you that. And will Dylan find is other half? Can Ruby have a happy end?
1. Reunion

_"Hey, Jade," Yuki began, trying to catch the ten year old's attention. Jade looked down at Yuki._

_ "What is it?" Jade asked._

_ "Did you teach yourself to hack so you could find your mom?" Yuki asked. Jade scowled at the cat faunus._

_ "Where did you get THAT idea?" Jade growled. Yuki fiddled with her thumbs._

_ "Well, it's just, you always paint the a woman that looks kinda like you only older, and your dad told me you were painting what you imagined you mom looked like, and I was just curious if you were trying to track her down. It wasn't meant to interrogate you," Yuki said nervously. Jade sighed, running her hands through her long, curly black hair before answering._

_ "Yes, the only thing is, I don't even know her name. Dad never tells me anything 'bout my mom, so I'm clueless. In fact, thinking I'll find her is childish and stupid," Jade explained, trying her best to sound mature. Yuki crawled over to Jade and lied her head on Jade's shoulder. _

_ "I never met my dad so you're not alone," Yuki assured, looking up at Jade with her mixed matched eyes. The left one was blue, and the right one was silver. Yuki's eyes always intrigued Jade. How could one be one color and the other another color? It seemed to deny the norm. Jade's eyes were green and green alone, and then when Jade looked at other people, they had different eye colors. Brown, Blue, Green, Hazel, Grey, and Black. But if one eye was brown, the other eye was brown. Never brown and hazel. When Jade first met the cat faunus, she thought her eyes were a mistake, but then she looked into them more. Then she realized they weren't a mistake at all. They were a masterpiece! A beautiful one at that. Jade often found herself looking at Yuki's eyes longer than primarily necessary, taking in every little detail. After all, if she could find other colors in Yuki's eyes along with the dominant colors, it just meant that Yuki was even more of a work of art than she had originally thought._

_ "Jade, why do you like my eyes so much?" Yuki asked. Jade snapped out of her daydream._

_ "Because they look like the painting of an eccentric artist. I mean thing about it, you're a perfect little porcelain doll, but instead of just one eye color, you have two. It's one of the ways I know it's you," Jade rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. Yuki giggled. _

_ "Mommy says my eyes are cool too. I guess since you said so, it must be true, right?" Yuki asked._

_ "Yes, it's very true," Jade smiled softly at the younger girl._

_..._

"Hey, are you ok?" Yuki asked. Yang's gaze escaped the window of the airship and went to the seven year old in front of her.

"I'm ok, just having a hard time processing everything. This better not be a prank," Yang said.

"It's not, I'm not that mean of a girl! Besides, giving somebody that the hope a dead person the loved was alive when they weren't is just cruel!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Woah, chill, calm down," Yang said, putting her hands up in defense. Yuki sighed then grinned.

"So, what do you like to do for fun?" Yuki asked. Yang chuckled.

"Well, I like to cook and bake for starters," Yang said. "And normally that takes up most of my time so I just watch a little bit of TV."

"I like to play and go on adventures!" Yuki exclaimed happily.

"Does sneaking out of the house count as an adventure?" Yang asked.

"Yep, one time, I tried to rob the ice cream truck, but then I remembered what Mommy said about stealing," Yuki said.

"And what did she say about stealing?"

"That stealing is bad and if I steal, they'll lock me in a cage," Yuki curled up in herself, looking around the airship, suspicious of people who might want to lock her up.

"That's true, you can go to jail for stealing. Normally only a year though," Yang said.

"A YEAR!?" Yuki exclaimed. "What if you have to pee?"

"They have a toilet in there," Yang chuckled.

"What about food?"

"They feed you as well."

"Well either way I think I'd miss my mommy and my friend Jade in there," Yuki said.

"Well let's hope you never end up there," Yang said.

"Yes, definitely," Yuki agreed. "Do you have any pets?"

"Yeah, I have a dog named Feefee," Yang replied.

"Is Feefee a girl or a boy dog?"

"Girl, I actually have a picture of her on my phone," Yang said, pulling out her cell phone and pulling up a picture of Feefee to show Yuki.

"Lucky, I can't convince Mommy to get a puppy or a kitty. We have the room... She also won't adopt. I think she's got something against keeping track of things because I was able to sneak across the border better than the White Fang's finest," Yuki crossed her arms. Yang awkwardly chuckled.

"Y-You know, maybe your mommy doesn't want to keep up with the mess puppies make," Yang suggested, showing Yuki the picture from her phone. "This is Feefee, she's a pitbull." Sure enough, Yang had a picture of a black pitbull wearing a red bow around her neck, accompanied by a santa hat and green socks. Yuki's eyes got wide.

"You play dress up with your puppy?" Yuki asked excitedly. Yang giggled.

"Yeah, but she doesn't like it. But I can't resist on holidays. On Easter, I put bunny ears on her, on St. Patrick Day I dress her up like lepercon, and that's her Christmas picture," Yang explained.

"That's so cool!"

"Yeah, she always looks pretty cute."

"I'm gonna ask Mommy if we can get a pitbull!"

"Uh... Yeah about that, I doubt your mommy's gonna fly with that. They're big dogs like German Shepards. But you might be able to talk her into a Maltese or maybe a kitten," Yang said.

"B-But Feefee's cute. I want one."

"Well I used to have small puppies that were just as cute."

"Well, the thing is, I really, really, really, want a pony," Yuki sighed. "But Mommy says we can't have a pony because we don't have the money."

"Well maybe one day, you can get a pony. I'm sure that if you work hard and do good in school, as an adult you can buy five ponies," Yang assured.

"And three pitbulls?" Yuki asked with hopeful eyes.

"And three pitbulls- Wait, shouldn't you be in school right now?" Yang questioned.

"I skipped," said Yuki with a shrug of her small shoulders. Yang quirked an eyebrow.

"You skipped? Surely you mother has more sense than to let you skip school like that." Yuki groaned.

"Oh come on, what she doesn't know won't kill her!" Yuki exclaimed.

"How is she not aware of this?" Yang asked.

"Because Mommy left earlier for work. She told me to take the bus, but I lied when I said I would. I skip as much as I can, I don't like it there. All the others are mean," Yuki explained. "Besides, that not going to get me anywhere because when I grow up, I'm going to be the biggest star on Broadway, and then, I'll come back to tell everyone I told you so."

"Even so, Yuki, you're not doing your mother any favors by sneaking out and lying. She obviously depended on you to do as you were told, do you really want to be known as a liar?" Yang asked. Yuki sighed.

"I guess so. But Mommy likes a song about lying. She sings it all the time. You know, 'Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies', you know, by Fleetwood Mac? Why would somebody write a song about something bad?"Yuki asked.

"You'd be surprised. But honey, it's not right. She's gonna find out what you did anyways, so you might as well apologize to her," Yang suggested.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be bad, I just wanted to do something nice for her for a change. Even if Mommy won't buy me a pony or a puppy, she still gets me toys and pays for me to learn to sing, dance, and act. She sets it up so I can play at Violet's house and takes me to places I wanna go to. And she misses you so I wanted to make her smile," Yuki explained. Yang smiled down at the little girl.

"You know, you're on a roll, you'll be making two people smile," Yang grinned. Yuki looked up at Yang and gave the woman an almost strikingly familiar smile. Yang couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew that grin belonged to somebody she knew very well.

...

"Hey, I'm here to pick up Yuki," a woman clad in a red battle skirt, black leggings, a black tee shirt, and black combat boots said. The teacher gave the woman a funny look.

"Mei-Yuki never came to class. I assumed she was home sick." The woman quirked an eyebrow.

"I told her to take the bus to school."

"Well she obviously skipped. Not that anyone missed her. She's always interupting class and telling very unlikely stories. If I were you, I'd stop filling that child's head with nonsense. There is no such thing as mermaids and superheros. And grim do not attack stronger under the full moon. Somehow I doubt her friend is a super hero and she's a sidekick," the teacher enthused her dislike of Yuki. "Ms. Rose, it's ridiculous! She's always causing trouble. Yesterday, she bit another kid, nearly giving her those toxic mixed race diseases they carry!"

"Mrs. Kamp, Yuki isn't a bad kid. And she's perfectly healthy, not a lick of illness has ever taken over her. And as for the stories, she's just very imaginative. And she's also seven," Ruby explained.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised to see her grow into a mass murderer like those other spoiled blooded children."

...

"Hey, Molly, why do you practice the same routine over and over?" a boy with black hair and a matching pair of blackish cat ears asked. He was wearing a blue and green stripped sweater with tan slacks and grey socks. Molly, who was like the boy a cat faunus, with similar features such as hair as black as the darkest night, fair skin, and blackish purplish feline ears atop her head, was wearing a black leotard with black leggings and her black ballet shoes. Molly's hair was free, odd enough, even though she primarily kept it in a bun when she practiced.

"It's a secret, I can't tell you yet," Molly said, grabbing a towel to wipe off the sweat. The boy sighed.

"But you know I can keep a secret. I'm good at being quiet, and I have a feeling, that this is more of a Mom and Dad secret," he said. Molly sighed.

"You got me, Dylan. I tried out for a ballet at my middle school, and I got the lead role. Mom's been riding my butt about trying out since I was interested in it, and I want to practice until I'm perfect at this for Mom's sake. I want to make her proud," Molly explained. Dylan gave Molly an odd look.

"You know that she is going to be proud of you even if you stumble and fall. Mom loves you, she just wants you to be happy. And besides, I've seen you practice, you have talent," Dylan smiled. Molly sighed.

"Thank you. So have you read anything good as of late?" Molly asked.

"Nothing big, mostly just war strategies. What about you?" Dylan asked.

"Oh, just some... Romance novels. It's about ninjas, there's lots of fighting and stuff in it. Nothing you'd be interested in," Molly said, trying to shake off Dylan's curiosity. The little boy grinned.

"The way you say that makes it appear to me you aren't supposed to be reading that," Dylan pointed out, grabbing his war book out of his backpack and beginning to read, every so often looking up at the ballerina with a slightly intimidating smile.

"W-Well... Stop giving me that look! You look like Mom when you do that!" Molly exclaimed.

"Dylan looks like Mom?" A blonde monkey faunus appeared out of nowhere.

"JAKE! WHEN DID _YOU_ GET HERE!?" Molly yelled. Jake swung himself off of the ceiling and landed on his feet expertly.

"WOAH! You were right, Dylan looks like Mom with that face. Odd thing is, He looks just like her half the time when it comes to facial expressions, but he's not even our brother- ULK!" Molly elbowed her younger brother in the gut.

"Molly, you don't have to get onto him, I realize I'm just your cousin," Dylan said.

"Well maybe by blood, but you'll always be our baby brother," Molly smiled.

"And this will always be my family," Dylan grinned.

"HE LOOKS LIKE MOM AGAIN!" Jake exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Would you shut up and hold still for at least five minutes!" Molly yelled.

"What did I do?!" Jake exclaimed.

"You're a pain to be around!"

"MOMMY! MOLLY AND JAKE ARE FIGHTING AGAIN!" a small, childlike scream came from the hall. Suddenly footsteps could be heard coming towards the room and then the door opened.

"What is it this time?" a tall cat faunus asked that strikingly resembled Molly only with yellow eyes rather than brown.

"Jake won't be quiet, and I never have privacy!" Molly exclaimed.

"Honey, look, I can't help that your brother is full of energy. You need to deal with it. And Jake, you need to leave your sister be, she's not always up for conversation. Why don't you go outside and look for that beetle you told me about at lunch?" she suggested.

"OK!" Jake began to run on the walls out of Molly's room.

"Jake! How many times must I say it!? No running on the walls!" the woman exclaimed.

"SORRY!"

"What's going on in here, Blake?" a tall monkey faunus walked in.

"Molly and Jake were at it again," Blake sighed. "What do you want for dinner, Sun? I never laid anything out in kitchen so we're going out to eat."

"Let Dylan decide, he has to go back to Rick's tomorrow," Sun said.

"Well, I think sushi sounds pretty good," Dylan suggested, looking up from his book an exact time of two seconds.

...

"So this is it?" Yang asked. Yuki nodded happily.

"We don't have a real house, but I like this place better! It's like having our own castle tower since we're at the very top!" Yuki enthused. "It's just like the stories Mommy reads to me every night."

"You'd make a cute princess," Yang chuckled.

"Thanks! Wanna know a secret? My friend Jade and I are super heroes! Well, I'm just her sidekick, because I don't have any special powers yet. Jade does though! She can control acid and fire!" Yuki exclaimed happily as she spun around in circles.

"MEI-YUKI! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOUNG LADY!?"

"Auntie Yang, get in front of me, we have to bribe her!" Yuki pushed Yang towards the stairs where Ruby was climbing her way up the apartment. "Mommy! I brought you a present!"

"Yuki, you are in so much trouble, you hear!" Ruby ran to Yuki, totally oblivious to who was with the young girl.

"Why? I was only trying to do something nice for you," Yuki asked sadly. Ruby sighed.

"Yuki, a number of things could've happened to you while you were gone," Ruby reasoned, no longer yelling at the seven year old.

"Is it a big number, Mommy? Is it good things?" Yuki asked, avoiding eye contact.

"A very big number and very bad things. Honey, villains exist, but they blend in with everyone else. They aren't like Magnito and The Purple Pie Man-"

"From Porcupine Peek, DADADA DADA!" Yuki exclaimed happily at the thought of the cartoon bad guy. "And Sour Grapes!" Yang couldn't help but chuckle.

"The people out there aren't like them, they might go out of their way to hurt you for no good reason," Ruby sighed. Yuki shook her head.

"Mommy, everyone has the chance to be good guys, I believe that all bad guys are really misled good guys who need to be loved on and shown the good things that make all the good guys happy. Even bad guys like Darth Maul can learn to be good guys and be heroes like Luke and Anakin in the end of the movie," Yuki explained. Yuki was still so young. Still so naive. Life hadn't had a chance to bite her yet, which made her so happy go lucky. Ruby began to walk towards the door of the apartment. Yang crept a bit closer, close enough so Ruby could hear her speak.

"R-Ruby, is that really you?" Yang forced the question. She couldn't turn back now, not when Ruby could very well be right in front of her. Ruby turned from the lock and faced Yang, scanning the older woman.

"You look like somebody I knew a very long time ago," Ruby murmured.

"D-Do you remember me at all? I'm your sister, Yang," Yang stuttered, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. Ruby crept closer until she could grab Yang's hands.

"Yeah, I remember," Ruby whispered. Yang threw her arms around the younger woman, bring both of them to their knees. The two were both in tears at this point. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too," Yang replied, a bittersweet smile forming on her lips.

"How did you find me?" Ruby asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Yuki, she brought me here," Yang said, opening her eyes to look at the seven year old who was just standing there. Yuki smiled at the two, and earning a thankful smile from the older sister. Yang held out her hand to Yuki, who grasped it with slight hesitation, but found herself being pulled in-between the two women. Yuki was stunned, but got over it quickly and enjoyed the warmth she was receiving on that chilly October night.

After a while of the three holding each other in the embrace, they got up and walked towards the door of the apartment. Ruby unlocked the door and welcomed Yang inside. Yang had to admit, as much as she understood why the family of two lived there, she disliked the fact that they did. The apartments weren't very well kept up with, including a green pool and dead plants in the front of the complex. Inside of the apartment it was messy, but not grotesquely so. Yuki had her fairy figures and her super hero action figures set up on the dining room table, which also had a fluffy stuffed Nevermore. With a closer glance, Yuki had set it up to look like they were battling the grim. On the fridge was numerous pictures drawn by Yuki, which Yang at least assumed them to be Yuki's. Mostly of fairytales and cartoon characters. Some were more sloppy and childlike than others. One on the fridge was an almost too realistic picture of Yuki and some other girl with black curls and green eyes dressed as super heroes. Sorted laundry was on the floor, but there wasn't much clothes. It looked like only a little bit. They has a small TV with a DVD player, an old coffee table that was giving away with age, and a tan, and slightly torn couch.

"Sorry about the mess, with work, I've had a harder time keeping up with the house and I wasn't expecting company," Ruby sighed. The house just had to be a trainwreck that particular day. Yang grinned and put her arm around Ruby's shoulders.

"No worries, lil' sis, I've seen your messes at their finest, you don't have to be upset there isn't pizza on the ceiling," Yang winked.

"Pizza on the ceiling? THAT'S AWESOME!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Yeah, we were teenagers and nobody was home. By the time we fell asleep, I've seen dumpsters cleaner than that house," Yang chuckled.

"To be fair, I had cabin fever from the hospital," Ruby defended.

"Mommy, I'm gonna go show Auntie Yang my room, are we still going to going to have dinner with Jade tonight?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, so after you show Auntie Yang really quickly you need to clean up and get on your nice clothes. No tee shirts or jeans, this is a very nice restaurant," Ruby instructed. Yuki smiled.

"Ok, Mommy, come on, Auntie Yang!" Yuki began to drag Yang through the hall to a small room. Inside was a simple wood bed with multi colored flowers all over it and along the left side of the bed (Which was up against the left wall) was several stuffed animals lined up from top to bottom. Next to her bed was Yuki's her brown wood dresser with lilies and pink roses painted on. The top of the dresser held a big eighteen inch doll with red hair and blue eyes dressed in a princess dress, a big teddy bear, and a plastic bin that contained action figures and little fairy figures. Atop that bin was one holding Barbie esk sized dolls, and the one above that doll clothes and accessories. To the right of the room was a cardboard set up that looked like a cross between a military base and a fairytale palace. On the walls was several drawings, some on notebook paper, of everything under the sun. One next to Yuki's bed was of a Prince like boy with a machine gun and sword. He looked like a boy version of Yuki, and under it said 'Commander Prince'. Yang chuckled.

"So is that your prince, Snowflake?" Yang asked. Yuki shook her head.

"Nope! That's the boy from my dreams. He's always there, and his name is Dylan. He's always got his nose in a book for some reason," Yuki explained. "Auntie Yang, can you contact people in your sleep. Like, long lost friends and stuff like that?"

"I don't know. I used to have dreams with your mommy in them, but those were only dreams. Maybe you have special powers?" Yang suggested, catching onto the fact Yuki loved heroes.

"Like telephoneic powers that allow me to get inside of other people's minds?" Yuki said, stretching her hands around her head and making silly faces. Yang chuckled.

"Telekinetic, Yuki, not telephone. Or maybe you can speak to angels?" Yang suggested. Yuki grinned.

"Then I'm gonna chat with Nemo's mom and ask her why she let herself get eaten. I mean, why wouldn't you swim away and hide?" Yuki stated.

"Yuki, it's time to get ready," Ruby walked into the room. "Yang, you can try on some of my clothes. I don't have much, but I'm sure you can find something." Yang patted Yuki on the head before following Ruby to her room. Yang grinned. This was the same old Ruby she once knew. Posters for weapons and punk bands flooded the walls and a whole wall was dedicated to Crescent Rose, including a weapon rack and piles of amo. On her nightstand, Ruby had three weapon magazines and two picture frames. One had a photo of her, Yuki, another little girl, and a man with black hair.

"I didn't know Yuki had a sister," Yang said. Ruby shook her head.

"No, that Jade. She's my boyfriend's daughter, but her and Yuki are very close. Might as well be sisters with the amount of effort her and Jade put into sneaking out to each other's apartments," Ruby explained with a laugh. "Yuki's an only child. It's just her and I. Nathan lives a few doors down."

"Oh, sorry, I was just curious since she was in the picture," Yang apologized.

"Don't apologize, now let's find you something other than that to wear."

...


	2. Dinner and The Game Of Life

"Jade! Get ready for dinner!" A ten year old sighed.

"Ok, Daddy!" Jade shouted back, as if she were going to comply. She had put in too much work into her current painting to abandon it now. Especially when Jade would forget about it by the time she got home. "Let's see, Daddy has black hair, which must be where I get my black hair from, but nobody of Daddy's side has green eyes or curly hair. So she must have those features. Almost all of the girls I've seen with green eyes and curls have red hair, sometimes blonde, but probably red. GAH! This is really just a waste of time. Screw it, I'm gonna go see what I can wear." Jade stomped her foot in frustration. She sighed, as she began to rave her closet. Unlike Yuki, she had lots of clothes. The only thing was, almost every single shirt, pant, skirt, jacket, and dress was stained with paint or charcoal. Jade really was pretty careless when she used her supplies, often spilling paint on her clothes and the floor. Even one of her good cowboy hats had paint on it, but she could care less. She figured that she'd leave her mark somehow, somewhere, someway.

"Maybe this?" Jade pulled out a lacey black dress that had splashes of hot pink and lavender paint on it. "Yeah, why not. It looks just fine," Jade murmured to herself as she picked up a pair of bedazzled black cowboy boots and headed to her vanity. She sat on her olive green stool and looked in the mirror with a blank face.

'Not much to see, huh?' Jade thought to herself as she reached for her brush and tried to get her messy curls in order. Potentially even get it to not look fly away. But that's a distant dream. Jade's hair primarily was chaotic, flying every which direction with no rhyme or reason. She put down the black brush and ran her hand threw her hair and just gave up. Her eyes inched over to her Ulta catalogue. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to have makeup at her age, but she still liked seeing the different things people could do with it. To Jade, everything was art. Everything had beauty, everything had a touch of creative charm. Even the most homely things in the world had its own secret complicated pattern and unique charm. Plain meant you had the opportunity to make it extra special.

CREEK. "Jade, are you ok?" a man poked his head through the door. Jade turned to face him, now fully dressed in her outfit.

"Yeah, I'm just swell," Jade said, in a perky tone.

"Honey, don't you have any dresses without paint on the front? It's not flattering," her father said.

"Nathan, have you any outfits that don't include a bowtie and a cowboy hat?" Jade smirked. He frowned.

"Don't call me Nathan," said the man, as Jade had pointed out, was wearing a simple white dress shirt, black jeans, a blue bowtie, and a tan cowboy hat.

"Sure thing," Jade replied, rushing to her bed, grabbed her purse that was covered in buttons from Hot Topic, and rushed back to the door of her bedroom.

"Ready to head out?" Nathan asked.

"Yep!" Jade nodded happily. With that, the two exited the apartment.

...

"And then I bit her because she wouldn't stop trying to strangle me," Yuki concluded.

"Why is it, I'm just now finding this out?" Ruby questioned.

"Because I didn't think that the story was necessary," Yuki shrugged.

"Does Sabrina come after you often?" Yang asked. Yuki nodded.

"She thinks it's bad that I'm faunus and my mom's human. I don't see what the problem is, in fact, I think she's jealous because her parents have boring jobs and my mommy's a huntress," Yuki explained.

"Sorry that you're having a tough time at school," Ruby put a hand on Yuki's shoulder.

"I'm ok since I'm smarter, prettier, and much better than Sabrina and Dena. That's what Jade says," Yuki said. "I just wonder if she's right..."

"That's the first thing Jade's said you haven't taken hook, line, and sinker," Ruby commented. "And it's the first thing that came out of that girl's mouth that wasn't BS." Yuki looked up at her mother.

"You really think I'm prettier and smarter than Sabrina and Dena?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, especially when it comes to how you act. You don't go after people for no good reason, that's a good quality to have," Yang added. "Hey, speaking of this Jade chick, shouldn't they be here by now?"

"JADE!" Yuki exclaimed, running towards the older girl, who was busy on her phone. Yuki took a flying leap off the ground towards Jade, tackling her to the ground.

"Woah! Yuki, where'd you come from!?" Jade exclaimed in a shocked voice. Yuki giggled and got back up off of the floor. Jade got up as well, dusting off her dress once she was on her two feet.

"Sorry, I was happy to see you," Yuki chirped. Jade put her arm around Yuki's shoulders.

"It's good to see you too. So, did Operation Blondie work?" Jade asked.

"Yep! She's over there!" Yuki pointed to Yang, who was conversing with Ruby.

"That's swell, so long as you didn't get in trouble for sneaking across the border," Jade grinned.

"I didn't. Mommy's too happy to punish me," Yuki said.

"Sneaking across the border?" Nathan questioned.

"Yep, better than the White Fang's finest," Yuki answered with pride.

"And that's thanks to who?" Jade elbowed Yuki.

"Jade Lucky Wilson, Queen of Hacking, Dr. Stalker, Duchess of Privacy Invasion, and the most awesomest friend ever," Yuki announced, happily.

"Thank you, Yu-Yu," Jade smiled. "So, are you gonna jus' stand 'er Daddy, or are you gonna go say 'sup to Ruby so we can get a table?"

"Uh-Yeah, why not," Nathan said awkwardly to the young artist. He walked over to the sisters, wringing his wrists. "H-Hey, Ruby, what's up?"

Ruby smiled back at him, "Hey, Nathan, I've told you all about Yang, well this is her."

"Hey, pretty bo," Yang saluted with a grin.

"Hello," Nathan replied in a rather emotionless tone. "So I'm guessing you're here to visit for a little?" Yang shook her head.

"Nope! I'm moving up here. I've missed too much already and I want to be a part of my niece's life. Plus I get to visit my old friend Blake a bit, since nobody's really spoken with me in awhile," Yang explained. "Why? Got a problem with that?" Yang glared. It wasn't just any glare. It was the infamous, 'I don't know what you're up to, but I don't trust you around my little sister, so allow me to stare into your soul' glare. Something Yang had given a lot of boys at Signal. Especially Mike Nolm, who was sent to the emergency room with severe burns two days before the school dance.

"No, not at all, I'm just hoping you got over that over protective big sister thing that made Ruby run away in the first place," Nathan crossed his arms and scowled. Two could play Yang's games.

"Nathan, that isn't why I left and you know it," Ruby growled.

"Yeah, she left and look what she got herself into. I don't think you're a good influence so you better back off of my sister-"

"ENOUGH!" Ruby shouted in anger.

"Sorry, darlin' I realize that my Daddy's albums all have that one song that makes you wonder, but he's a great guy. Besides, he know not to mess with Rubes. She has a scythe and Yuki can sneak a body across the border better than the Black Market's finest," Jade said, getting between the adults and acting like the wise one.

"Has Yuki actually-"

"No, today was the first time I've been out of country, but I did follow this one girl back to her hotel one time because I had never seen hair like hers," Yuki answered Yang's question.

"All things aside, Yang, Nathan, can you please try to get along rather than just assuming the other one is bad news? Please? For me?" Ruby put on her cutest face, which made Yuki stomp her feet.

"Hey! Why do you get rewarded for being cute, but when I make a cuter face than that, you still won't buy me a pony!?" Yuki shouted.

"Because I'd rather reward you for character traits," Ruby replied, her face stiff in the puppy dog pout.

"Fine, I'm sorry," Yang huffed.

"Sorry for saying you made her run away," Nathan sighed.

"Well now that that's over, how about we get a table, 'cause I hear a sake callin' my name, anyone else hear it?" Yang grinned and walked over to the waitress. "Sup, table for five." 

"Well at least she's forgiving..." Nathan sighed.

...

"So a followed her back to her hotel, because I thought she was pretty, and I wanted to know why her hair was white, yet she looked to be Jade's age, and then she yelled at me, and I felt bad, but I really just wanted her to stop yelling," Yuki explained.

"So what you're saying is you followed _THE _Cassandra Shwartz back to her hotel? As in, _Cassandra Shwartz_, the fashion icon, not to mention popular singer and actress? I've been facebook stalking her for two years now. She was born March 7, at 2:09 AM, three minutes before her twin brother William Shwartz. She's starred in five movies and has recorded three albums, with two additional singles. On top of that, she's been on Child Vogue's cover consistently. She always looks cute! Ah! She's such a role model!" Jade enthused.

"What's so special about her? Her success is over shadowed by her snobby, prissy attitude," Yang questioned.

"Excuse me, could you imagine how tiring it'd be, to be so amazingly gifted and on top of that prepare for taking control of two super powers? Two! Not one, two. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and heiress to the throne of Vale. She's got every right to be cranky at times. You just don't get it, do you?" Jade lectured.

"Ok, kiss her butt, you'll grow out of it eventually," Yang stated.

"You don't grow out of perfect!" Jade exclaimed.

"Jade, quiet, we're in the restaurant," Nathan reminded. "And besides, Cassandra's barely a saint."

"You have no respect for art," Jade huffed. Yuki looked around a bit, slightly bored of the conversation. That's when she saw it. It was a boy who mirrored her exact appearance, sitting with a group of faunus that she assumed to be the boy's family.

"Yuki, what's caught your eye?" Ruby asked, noticing that Yuki had been staring for a little bit. Yuki came back down to earth from her thoughts.

"Oh, nothing, Mommy, I was just... daydreaming," Yuki said quietly.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked, just to make sure.

"Yeah, I'm fine.."

...

"I'll raise a revolution then!" Yuki exclaimed.

"No, Yuki, you have to pay your taxes, nobody cares if you lost your job," Jade said coldly.

"That's mean!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Well, that's life, maybe you shouldn't have had seven kids?" Jade shrugged.

"It's what the board told me!" Yuki bursted into tears.

"Kids, it's just a board game," Nathan tried to rein in the girls.

"Ha! Ruby, my law suit went through, you owe me $950,000, pay up, little sister!" Yang exclaimed, pointing at Ruby with a grin.

"There's no way I'm paying you! Besides, I'm suing you for laying off my daughter!" Ruby crossed her arms.

"Ladies, young ladies, it's just a board game," Nathan once again tried to be the voice of reason with no avail.

"Mommy, join up with me, and we will over throw the evil government that is Jade and put Auntie Yang out of business!" Yuki exclaimed, holding out her hand to Ruby, who shook it.

"Yeah, down with them all!" Ruby exclaimed.

"What, you two can't take me down, Yuki's broke, she can't even feed her seven children," Jade chuckled.

"Hey, shouldn't I be getting food stamps or something? Some type of government benefit? Seriously, I was in the military before I retired to dust mining! I should be getting some type of benefits. Heck, I was injured at war, lost my spouse, have seven kids, and am out of a job, where's my money!?" Yuki exclaimed.

"Well, I don't think that they give out those benefits to half breads," Jade said.

"That's racist!" Yuki exclaimed. "So what if I'm half human? I'm still a person!"

"Well it matters in the society of this world. Now look, I might be able to pull some strings, get you some more money, but I need you to do something for me," Jade negotiated with a smirk.

"What do you want?" Yuki asked.

"You owe me all of your property," Jade grinned evilly. Yuki sighed.

"Fine, just get me money..."

"Guys, I don't even know how you can possibly do this kind of stuff in the game Life," Nathan spoke up.

"It's called life, which means somebody has to get screwed over, and somebody richer and with more power has to dominate them. It's how things work," Yang said.

"Ok, kids, time to pack up the board game, out food is here," Ruby announced.

"Ah..." Yuki, Jade, and Yang said in unison.

"We can play it later, and you can sue each other to your heart's content," Ruby assured.

"Can I sue the bank for having all of the money without having to actually work?" Yuki asked with hope filled eyes.

"For all of the money, and you can bring this town to economic collapse," Ruby patted Yuki on the head.

"Ok, Mommy," Yuki chirped happily.

"This is so weird..." Nathan sighed.

"Aw, lighten up, let loose, have some fun," Yang elbowed him.

"Yeah, sure," Nathan scooted further away from Yang.

...


	3. Family Ties

It seemed to have been a short night, because before Yang could even blink, Yuki and Jade were sacked out on the couch at Ruby's apartment. Clenched in Jade's hand was a drawing pencil, which looked uncomfortable to hold. That or Jade never bothered to learn the correct way to hold a pencil. Either way, Yang crept over and removed the pencil from the young girl's grasp, making Jade's hand soften into a natural position rather than the scrunched up state it was in moments earlier.

"Looks like Jade was trying teach Yuki something," Ruby chuckled from the hallway. Yang looked up at Ruby who was grinning. "Jade's actually an art prodigy. She's actually never had an art lesson in her life."

"Really?" Yang asked, taking a peek at the picture that was slightly covered with the top of Jade's head. It was a picture of herself unmistakably so, with her father, and some other woman who had a curly ponytail. "That's really good, I could never draw like that."

"Neither can I. She's also pretty good on the guitar. Nathan's been teaching her to play since she was four, so by now, she's pretty good," Ruby explained.

"That's neat. How long have you and Nathan been dating?" Yang asked.

"Three years now, and we're engaged," Ruby answered. Yang's face dropped.

"You neglected to mention that on the car ride to the restaurant," Yang said in a rather upset tone.

"That's because we haven't told the girls yet. They're friends, but both of them have been the only child their whole lives, this would be a bit of a change. Neither of us have that much money so they might have to share a room, plus Jade is obsessed with finding her biological mother," Ruby explained. "So we're putting it off until we think the girls will handle it best."

"What happened to Jade's mom?" Yang asked.

"I don't know, Nathan never really talks about her, but from what I picked up on, she made some foolish decisions and Nathan decided it'd be better if Jade never knew her, so he left. You can't tell her that, no kid wants to believe their family is bad," Ruby explained the little bit she knew on the situation. Yang sighed.

"Yeah, I can understand that. So, while we're on the topic of missing parents, what's the deal with Yuki's dad, where is he?" Yang questioned.

"The situation with Yuki is a long story," Ruby huffed.

"Ah, no, you've got time, what's the deal here?" Yang shook her head and pointed to the seat next to her on the double couch. "Park it and explain."

"Yang, I'm an adult now, you can't tell me what to do anymore," Ruby scowled.

"Oh really, because last time I checked, I made sure you didn't starve to death before you were an adult," Yang gave Ruby an 'Ha! I got the upper hand' grin. Ruby groaned and stumbled over to the couch and sat down beside her sister.

"Fine. I don't know where he went. After Yuki was born, we parted ways, and I ended up here, end of story," Ruby sassed.

"Is it really that simple?" Yang rolled her eyes at Ruby, making the younger woman sigh.

"No, I got ditched. As in left, in a an actual ditch. Could've at least paid for a motel so I didn't nearly freeze to death, but no, the side of the road was just that much closer," Ruby rolled her eyes at the memory. "We met at the medical ward I was at a year after I ran away. A little while later, as in two weeks after Yuki was born, he just decided he was tired of me or something, tricked me into thinking we were finally leaving the ward and gonna get our own place. When I got outside, I got knocked out and when I woke up, Yuki and I were in a ditch on the Utopian border." Yang felt anger swelling up in her, really, she wanted to just rip something, more particularly this mystery man into pieces. Yet, she covered it up, that was for later, right now, she had to be a supportive sister because despite acting tough, Yang could tell Ruby was upset. It happened a lot when they were young. Ruby would be upset, but wanted to appear strong in front of Yang, so she acted like she could care less about a situation, but you could hear her voice waver into different pitches as she tries to hold everything in. This happened to be one of those moments.

"You know, it's ok to be sad about stuff like that, you don't have to pretend to not be bothered by this," Yang put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby shook her head.

"I'm not sad, I'm just fine," Ruby nearly choked on her own words. Yang just pulled Ruby into hug.

"Of course you are," Yang whispered. "I'm here now, that's not gonna happen again on my watch."

"I know, I just don't want it to happen again. That's own of my biggest fears," Ruby whimpered.

"I won't let. Trust me, if anybody leaves you again, they won't be coming back around here," Yang assured, cracking her knuckles.

"What makes you think you can defend me now?" Ruby asked, still crying a bit. Yang looked down at Ruby with a surprised expression.

"Because I'm always going to love you and I'll always be indebted to you for screaming at you the last time we spoke," Yang explained, stroking Ruby's hair softly.

"I'm not mad at you over that, I should apologize to you for tricking you, that was uncalled for," Ruby sobbed, squeezing her older sister tighter.

"I don't have a grudge, besides, that's all behind us now, it's all over," Yang assured.

Suddenly there was a knocking at the door. Ruby groaned.

"But I just got comfortable," she complained. Yang chuckled.

"Oh well, I'll get the door," Yang said, moving Ruby and walking to the door to see two middle school aged boys dressed up like pizza delivery boys.

"Did you order an anchovy egg pizza from Pizza Butt?" the taller, more athletic looking monkey faunus asked. He had scraggly blonde hair that stuck out every which way, mischievous brown eyes, and a tan monkey tail that he used to balance a pizza.

"Uh, no, and aren't you two a little young to be working?" Yang quirked an eyebrow and put a hand on her hip.

"No, no, we're thirty five! And we need money to support our video game addiction," the other boy replied with a goofy smile. He was shorter, and much skinnier. The boy had shaggy and equally as messy white hair, icy blue eyes, and his whole appearance seemed playful.

"Yeah, sure, where's your mothers?" Yang asked. They looked each other in the eye and were about to take a run for it, but Yang grabbed them by their shirts and dragged them into the apartment.

"Sorry, it was a joke!" the faunus exclaimed.

"I'm too famous to die!" the other boy exclaimed.

"You think you've got problems? I was going to try out for the UFL!"

"The throne of Vale and a company is left in the hands of my _sister_, Remnant's doomed!"

"Calm down, I'm not going to kill you, but I need your mothers' phone numbers," Yang interrupted. The boys exchanged glances.

"Please kill us," the boys said in unison.

"Nope, now let's start with you, what's your mother's number?" Yang asked the white haired boy. He gulped.

"I have her on speed dial on my cell phone, I don't know her number," the boy said.

"Give me your phone," Yang said, holding out her hand.

"NO!"

" ." Yang growled, scaring the boy into complying. After looking at the number on the smart phone, Yang dialed the number.

"Hello, who is this?" a voice on the other side answered.

"Hello, I found your son, he's at my apartment, can you please pick him up?" Yang asked.

"WILLIAM ARNOLD SHWARTZ, WHEN DID YOU LEAVE THE PALACE!? YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!" Yang had to pull the phone away so her ear drum wouldn't burst.

"You think she's mad?" William bumped his comrade.

"I have no doubts in my mind we're grounded," the faunus replied.

"Chill woman, I'll text you the address, he's fine," Yang assured.

"I can't believe he did that, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience miss..."

"Xiao Long, and it's ok," Yang said.

"Yang?" the woman questioned.

"Yes?"

"Haven't heard from you in a while, what are you doing in Utopia?"Weiss asked.

"Visiting somebody special," Yang grinned.

"Oh, well let's hope this one's better than the last," Weiss huffed.

"Hey, that was actually my fault, and this isn't a boy," Yang said.

"Um.. Well good luck with that..."

"No, no, no! Not that kind of special, like familial special!" Yang exclaimed.

"Oh, ok. And is Jake with William?"

"Is Jake a blonde monkey faunus that looks strikingly familiar to somebody we knew some time awhile back?" Yang asked.

"Yes, that's the one, I take it they snuck out together?"

"Yep, apparently they're partners in crime."

"Yes, I sometimes wish they didn't get along so well."  
"Ok, I'll text you the details, bye, Weiss."

"See you soon."

"Yep, we're grounded," William said.

...


	4. Epic Aunt Battles Of History

"How much money do you want to not let our mom's takes us home?" Will pleaded at Yang.

"Nope, it ain't gonna work," Yang said.

"Common, I'm the richest boy in Vytal, I'm sure I can meet your expectations, I mean, your living _here_," William scrunched up his nose. "So crowded."

"Will, let it go, we're in trouble. It's your fault that we had to give away this awful pizza anyways," Jake said.

"It sounded like a good idea when we were in the kitchen!" Will burst into tears. Jake sighed and patted his friend on the back.

"It's ok, I doubt they'll take away your credit card or my gym membership, so it'll be ok," Jake assured with a goofy grin.

"Yang? What's going on?" Ruby walked into the kitchen where Yang and the boys were, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I heard crying."

"Oh, the boys are just upset that they'll be in trouble when they get home," Yang replied.

"Boys? What boys?" Ruby yawned.

"These boys," Yang pointed to Will and Jake who smiled and waved at Ruby.

"Why is Weiss' son and Blake's son in my apartment?" Ruby cocked her head to the side.

"We had to get rid of an egg and anchovy pizza we made in kitchen before Mom noticed we'd tried to cook something so late at night," Jake explained.

"And we thought that dressing up like pizza delivery guys and giving the pizza away to the apartments nearby would work since apartment people are poor. That's what my Mommy said," Will piped up.

"I wouldn't say I'm poor," Ruby shuffled her feet.

"I'm pretty sure my room is bigger than this whole apartment," Will reasoned.

"That's not normal, Buddy," Jake piped up. Will sighed.

"Sorry, I forget that sometimes. I guess it's that fancy school Mommy makes Cassandra and I attend with other kids like us that makes me forget how lucky we are," Will started to tear up again.

"Here's a hanky," Jake grabbed a blue handkerchief out of her pocket and handed it to Will.

"Thanks, man," Will replied, his voice slightly weak.

Ding Dong!

"They're here..." the boys dreaded in unison. Yang opened the door to see a thoroughly pissed off Weiss and a rather calm Blake standing side by side. Yang blinked. Was it that Blake and her were giants, or was Weiss tiny. Weiss only came to up to Blake's jaw, and that was the top of her head. By the looks of it, Will was going to take after his mother and be very fine boned and short. Poor boy, on top of that, the poor thing was a cry baby. Weiss was odd enough, considering it was one AM, dressed in a white pencil skirt and aqua ruffled blouse. Blake on the other hand was obviously wearing her pajamas with sweat pants underneath and bunny slippers. She didn't wear her bow and had her black hair in a sloppy ponytail, unlike Weiss who had her hair in a side bun.

"It's been a while," Blake was the first to speak.

"Yeah, it has," Yang uncomfortably scratched the back of her head.

"Do you have citizenship in Utopia?" Blake quirked an eyebrow.

"I haven't moved yet, but I'm going to," Yang shrugged.

"Well for old time's sake, don't bother trying to get citizenship, just be on your merry way over. Might as well avoid the hassle," Blake said in an emotionless tone.

"Thanks, Pal," Yang patted the queen on the back. Blake flinched and shook her head.

"Can we just take the boys home?" Blake asked.

"Of course! Jake, Willy, your moms' are here!" Yang called.

"We know..." two grumbles could be heard.

"William Arnold Shwartz! Get over here this instant!" Weiss yelled. A girl like shriek was heard.

"Ok, Mommy!" Will cried, bursting into tears again. Just when he had calmed down. The eleven year old ran to the door faster than light speed.

"What possessed you to leave the palace, young man!?" Weiss scolded.

"Jake and I were trying to get rid of an egg and anchovy pizza!" Will sobbed.

"That's fowl," Blake gulped, looking a bit sick.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time!" Will wailed.

"William, relax," Weiss said in a more quiet tone than what she had used moments before and handed him a kleenex out of her purse. Will blew his nose and wiped his tears on his sleeve before finally taking a deep breath and calming down. Jake had already walked over to Blake when the adults heard the murmuring of another person followed by stumbling.

"Mommy, where's the voices coming from?" Yuki came stumbling into the kitchen, eyes closed and grasping a pink stuffed bunny.

"Yuki, why don't you go sleep again?" Yang patted Yuki on the head. Yuki opened one eye, her silver eye to see what was going on, then her blue eye shot open.

"Hey, aren't you the brother of Jade's idol?" Yuki asked, pointing at Will.

"I don't know..." Will shrugged his shoulders.

"William, right? You were in the one move with the giant snake and were crying all throughout the movie?" Yuki pointed out. Will awkwardly scratched his head and chuckled.

"Y-Yeah, that's me. Cassandra's better at everything but being fun," Will replied.

"Jade idolizes her. Something about a divine being?" Yuki tried to remember what Jade had said earlier.

"That's just ridiculous, she may be talented, smart, and polite, but she's not a goddess or anything," Weiss scoffed.

"Of course she isn't, Snow Angel, but good luck convincing Jade that. That's as easy as telling her that her chances of finding her mom are next to zero, or telling my mommy I know that she's engaged," Yuki stated.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that stupid nick name?" Weiss groaned. "I thought this would end at Beacon."

"Nope, not gonna happen Ice Princess," Yang grinned.

"Well why don't you and your daughter go make your snow jokes somewhere else!" Weiss shouted.

"Daughter? You have a daughter?" Yuki questioned Yang.

"Isn't that who _you_ are?" Weiss asked. Yuki shook her head and laughed.

"Nope! Yang's my auntie! My Mommy's name is Ruby. She's thirty three ,5/7, has black hair, sliver eyes, and is a huntress. She also has a phone number, but that's to testing to remember. Mommy says I need to know her full name and a slight description in case anything happens," Yuki explained cheerfully.

"Ruby's..."

"Alive, amazing right. And under our noses the whole time," Yang grinned. "Yo, Rubes, come on out, don't be shy!" Yang called. An ever so slight glimpse of a woman with a red blanket covering her head and shoulders could be seen from the corner that connected the living room the kitchen, then a red dash for a milisecond that soon revealed to be Ruby Rose standing next to Yang.

"You've been alive this whole time?" Weiss asked rather flabbergasted.

"Y-Yeah, this whole time," Ruby whispered. Weiss slapped the younger woman angrily.

"Do you realize how much trouble you caused us!?" Weiss yelled.

"Weiss, I.."

"No, you tore your sister apart and frankly, I was getting tired of all of my friends just dying on me, and considering you missed everything we wanted you to be at, I should hate your guts," Weiss said in a cold voice."

"I understa-"

"But, I want to be friends again. I've missed you, so has Blake and especially Yang. Stop cutting me off," Weiss hissed that last part.

"S-Sorry, I just..."

"Um... Question!" Yuki jumped up and down.

"What is it, Yuki?" Ruby asked.

"Who are these people!?" Yuki exclaimed.

"Yuki, these are my teammates from Beacon, Weiss and Blake," Ruby introduced.

"Heyo, I'm Mei-Yuki," Yuki introduced.

"It's nice to meet you... Wait, she's a faunus..." Blake noticed the child's race quickly.

"Why is that always the first thing everyone says about me?" Yuki grumbled.

"Sorry, it's just Ruby's... Not a faunus," Weiss pointed out.

"Nope! I always imagined my daddy being one though," Yuki grinned.

"Imagined? Where _is_ your father?" Weiss questioned. Yuki shrugged. "Ruby?"

"I'm sure he's somewhere... In Remnant," Ruby shuffled her feet.

"OH! This can be my next project! Mommy, I'm gonna need his full name, social security number, and credit card number so I can catch him up on Christmas and my birthdays he missed. You know, as a little stress reliever," Yuki excitedly jumped up and down with glee.

"Yuki, no, you can't keep invading people's personal lives. It's bad enough you and Jade spammed your aunt, you're not bothering your father," Ruby lectured.

"Oh come on! How about since Auntie Yang was a late birthday gift, I get you Daddy for Christmas?" Yuki offered.

"I have Nathan, I've moved on," Ruby giggled.

"But he's... Jade's daddy. And if you married him, that'd mean you would be a stepmother and we all know how that ends," Yuki gave her mother an 'uh drr' look.

"How exactly does that end, enlighten me?" Ruby question, wondering what Yuki had in mind. Yuki let out an exasperated sigh.

"It means you're going to force me to cut off my toes so I can fit into some tiny shoe and Jade's still going to end up with the boy, and birds are gonna pluck out my eyes and I'll end up all alone in the streets enable to walk or see anything but the insides of the birdie that ate my eyes," Yuki explained. "Come on, Mommy, you know the story. Or you'll try to eat Jade's livers and have some creeper stab her heart out, but he's a creeper, so he'll let Jade live, and you'll kill him. Then you'll poison her, and other creepers will put her in a glass coffin and some cuter looking creeper will come along and kiss her dead body, which is hella creepy, but she'll come back to life, and they'll get married, and you'll have to dance to death in fire shoes. That'll make me an orphan. And we all know what happens to orphans. THEY GET EATEN BY WITCHES!"

"Yuki, stop being so mellow dramatic, they're just fairy tales, not reality," Ruby assured.

"But you said we could learn things from fairy tales," Yuki said.

"I meant you could learn life lessons. Remember when Little Red Riding Hood trusted the Big Bad Wolf without knowing him?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah and he fed Red her grandma," Yuki nodded.

"Yeah, you shouldn't trust a stranger just like that. That's what you're supposed to learn from that story. And Hansel and Gretel. They got lost in the woods, all alone, after hearing what happened to them, would you want to go into the woods?" Ruby explained.

"Nope, I value my life," Yuki said.

"Ok, then, that's what I meant by you could learn from fairytales. I didn't mean all stepmothers are evil," Ruby explained.

"That's good, but I still don't want Jade to be my step sister," Yuki crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Why not? You two are joined at the hip," Ruby asked.

"Because Jade's difficult. I don't want you to marry her daddy because she'll get angry and talk bad about you just because she doesn't have her real mommy. And then she get really, really mean and scary. You haven't seen Jade when she's angry. Her eyes turn blood red, her hair catches fire, acid boils up in her blood and makes creepy blisters on her skins and start seeping acid, she grows dragon wings, and gets fangs! She's scary!" Yuki ran up and hugged her mother. "And I want her to find her real mommy. Because then, Jade's mommy and daddy will get back together, and I won't have to share my mommy. My mommy's cooler than anyone else's," Yuki squeezed tightly. Ruby sighed and looked down at the small cat faunus and stroked her soft cat ears.

"Sharing me won't be too bad, Yuki. I'm gonna have to get used to it too," Yang said.

"But I had her first!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Actually, _I_ had her first," Yang pointed out, making Yuki's jaw drop.

"B-But she's my mommy!" Yuki cried.

"And I'm sharing her with you even though I had her first," Yang said. "So if I can share your mommy with you, and I barely know you, can't you share your mommy with your best friend?" Yuki sighed.

"You're right, I'm sorry for being selfish..." Yuki said sadly.

"Mei-Yuki looks so familiar, but I can't put my finger on it," Weiss said. "Like I've seen someone that looks like her before."

"Yeah, she looks like Dylan in a roundabout way. I mean sure she's female, but their features look nearly identical," Blake stated.

"Who's Dylan?" Yang asked.

"My nephew. I've been taking care of him most of his life since his father is so busy all the time," Blake explained.

"Call it what it is, Mom, he abandoned him with us and now is trying to somewhat be a father, even though Dad's always been that to Dylan," Jake said coldly.

"Jake, your uncle is a very busy man. He's a scientist and is doing research for very hard illnesses to treat. On top of being a single father, he was held prisoner by the Valish government for years before we found him again," Blake told Jake, making the preteen sigh in defeat.

"I know, it's just not fair that I've called Dylan my brother all these years, and now I have to call him my cousin," Jake said.

"I know, but that's how things are playing out, and Dylan should get the chance to get close with his father after all of these years."

"Hey, what if-"

"Yuki, I'd remember if you had a brother," Ruby interrupted.

"If you remember, does she?" Blake asked. "The resemblance is striking and Mei has always been Ricky's favorite name for a girl. It was the name of this old tabby cat we had as kids." Ruby hesitated.

"Well that's odd..."

"Ruby, tell the truth."

"I don't have a choice do I?"

"No, you don't, now spill."

"Yes, Yuki has a twin brother."

"Awesome!"

"So you're mystery lady?"

"I guess."

"You should get the twins together then."

"Yeah, then I can pound this Rick guy into the dirt for leaving my baby sister!" Yang exclaimed, her hair catching fire.

"HE DUMPED MY SISTER AND NEICE IN A DITCH IN A DIFERENT COUNTRY, AND THAT'S ANOTHER THING HE GOT MY SISTER PREGNANT!" Yang exclaimed.

"Well, Ricky has issues. He spent eight years prisoner and who knows what they did to him. Besides, I doubt he'd do something like that, even if he loses his temper easily. It's probably Ruby who left. I mean, she left you, didn't she?" Blake pointed out.

"If she hadn't left she would have died within a couple of years anyway she left so that she could spend more time with us and help others at the same time!" Yang retorted angrily.

"Well then Ruby shouldn't have acted like an idiot while she was gone," Blake hissed, showing her fang like teeth. Yuki giggled.

" Oh, this is getting good," Yuki grinned mischievously.

Ruby sighed, "Not now." Ruby murmured, pushing Yuki behind her.

"She wasn't being an idiot she was tricked into that relationship by a monster who used her under the assumption that he loved her!" Yang cried.

"Ricky wouldn't do something like that!" Blake exclaimed.

Yuki groaned, "Can I at least have popcorn? No, skittles."

"Do you want to be grounded?" Ruby put her hands on her hips.

"What kind of idiot would chose to be grounded?"

"And how do you know you yourself said that you hadn't had any contact with your family when we were in beacon and neither you your mother or your other siblings saw him for a while after you were reunited!" Yang retorted.

"Because I was the only one in my family that took care of him! I made sure he was taught morals! And I certainly was a better example than you were! You know nothing about hard work until you're trying to find food during a blizzard! He'd never hurt somebody without a valid reason!" Blake wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her robe.

"Why you- we had to go through the same things except it was worse because Ruby was sick all the way through!" Yang growled.

"And what did you do about it? You went and got drunk. Great example you set there." Blake slow clapped in a mocking way.

"I was sad and afraid but I always tried to hide it from her and take care of her. Do you know what it's like to see a sibling slowly wither away before your eyes?! It's the worst pain that I have ever felt!" Yang started to cry a bit.

"Well you don't know what it's like to promise protection to somebody just to have them ripped from under you, knowing that if you had come home sooner, they'd be ok!" Blake crossed her arms.

"Well-"

"STOP ARGUING! " Ruby finally erupted before breaking down into tears.

"Mommy, are you ok?" Yuki asked in a concerned voice.

"No, everyone just stop talking!" Ruby crouched and hold her face in her hands to her face. Yang put an arm around her and gently rocked her a bit.

"It's ok, I'll stop," Yang whispered. Yuki uncomfortably shifted in her shoes, never having seen her mother in such a state. Ruby almost always had a smile on her face. It was for Yuki's sake she smiled every day. It was all so Yuki wouldn't worry.

"Looks like it's up to me to be the voice of reason," Weiss sighed. "Blake, Yang, you both need to calm down. One, it doesn't matter who's fault this is because Mei-Yuki and Dylan are the victims in this situation, and two, Yuki is watching you and we don't want her to get involved in sad things like this. Plus you just woke up tall, raven, and curly over there." Weiss pointed to Jade, who was leaning against the wall of the hallway. 

"This would make the best song for Daddy's new album."


	5. Special Thanks

A/N - Special thanks to Honorboundfate for helping me with Blake and Yang's little argument in chapter 4. :) Thanks, man, that really helped.


	6. Jake's Words Of Wisdom (and food)

_"Don't worry, child, we're letting the worries escape your head," a man in a white and red lab coat patted a small faunus child on the head, making his singed cat ears twitch painfully._

_ "Putting a hole at the top of my head is only going to increase the troubles I see," the boy, who was about fourteen replied, a glazed over, dull look in his eyes._

_ "You think that now, but you'll cry from happiness once this is done, now hold still," the man grinned. The faunus boy looked up at the drill hover above his head then steadied his head upright. _

_ "Bella, did you let this happen because I was a bad kid?" he whispered softly through a few tears. "Maybe today, I can have tea with Meiko the Cat. That'll make me feel better," boy continued to whisper gently to himself, finding himself smiling at the thought of an orange tabby cat wearing a ruffled pink collar around her neck. _

_..._

"AH!" A man shot up into a sitting position in his bed. He ran his hands through his black hair, gripping it and tugging at it. He let go of his hair and began to bite on his nails. He used his free hand and grabbed his cell phone from the desk and speed dialed somebody. Holding the phone to his ears, he bit his lip, waiting for the other end to answer.

"Hello?" A tired voice groaned.

"Bella, it was the dream again. I was back at the prison," the man sobbed. Blake sighed from the other end.

"Ricky, it's over now, you don't need to be afraid anymore. Now, it's just dreams-"

"No, they're not!" Rick exclaimed.

"It's ok now, you're safe. They can't get you anymore, so please, relax a little bit," Blake assured.

"O-Ok..." Rick said in a soft, nearly inaudible voice.

...

"I will not!" Dylan yelled, crossing his arms and turning his back to Blake.

"Why not?" Blake asked.

"Because she's probably just like father. I don't want anything to do with her. All I need is you, Daddy, Molly, Jake, and Jeni. I don't want my bio-father or my so called sister. They aren't my family and they never will be," Dylan explained stubbornly.

"But don't you want to meet your mother?" Blake reasoned.

"No, I have a mom."

"Honey, I've always loved you like you were my biological son, but your mother hasn't seen you in seven years. And your sister never met you, you two were babies when you were separated," Blake explained.

"That doesn't matter to me. If she loved me so much, she wouldn't have let Father take me away," Dylan huffed. Blake sighed.

"If you won't do it for them, will you do it for me?" Blake asked. "Because I asked you to?" Dylan sighed.

"I'll meet them, but it's because you feel so strongly about it and I love you," Dylan gave in. Blake smiled before kissing his forehead.

"I love you too. Thank you, Dylan," Blake replied.

"You're welcome. I'm going to go read in the library, is that ok?" Dylan asked.

"Of course, just stay out of my personal book case," Blake said.

"Ok, I'll just rave Molly's."

...

"So do you think he'll like me?" Yuki asked.

"I can't think of a person who wouldn't like you, Snowflake," Yang patted Yuki on the head.

"Yuki, I'm sure that over time you'll grow to be friends, but you can't expect to just walk up to him and suddenly be the Olsen twins. It takes time, ok?" Ruby explained.

"Ok, I just hope he's cool like Jade's boyfriend," Yuki enthused. Yang scrunched up her nose.

"Jade has a boyfriend? She's ten," Yang questioned.

"Yeah, he lives in Atlas and has pink hair. That's what Jade told me. She also said he's BFF's with the Tooth Fairy!" Yuki smiled. "Oh, he's so cool!"

"Um... Ok, well I sure hope Jade doesn't get too attached to this boyfriend of hers," Yang shook her head.

"She's not, she's overly attached to anything with Cassandra's face on it. I could tape her picture to my butt and Jade would obsess over it. I don't get what's the big deal, she's just another person, and she can't act worth a crap. I mean, I'm seven and I can tell she's not happy," Yuki explained.

"Well, most girls go through a faze where they're obsessed with a celebrity of some sort. Mine was Achieve Men," Yang stated.

"Achieve what?" Yuki asked.

"Achieve Men, you know, they sing that one song, 'Baby why'd you leave me,' and 'Lucy'. You've heard that right?" Yang asked.

"Nope! Never in my life," Yuki chirped.

"Yang, you're getting old, they haven't released an album in years," Ruby pointed out.

"Well I'm disappointed in you, sis, it's irresponsible of you not to introduce your daughter to good music while she's young. You wouldn't want her listening to the crap they have out today. Before you know it you have a twerking seven year old," Yang scolded.

"What's a twerk? Is that some kind of insult?" Yuki asked with big, curious eyes appointed to Yang. The aunt just patted Yuki on the head.

"Don't get older, ok?" Yang instructed with a soft smile.

"Ok, but if I promise to stay a kid, Mommy has to promise to let me watch whatever I want to within a year," Yuki said, wrapping her arms around Yang.

"The answer is no, you can't just watch whatever, there's a lot of bad things on the TV," Ruby said.

"Yeah, because a gothic of swan lake must be absolutely corrupted," Yuki rolled her eyes.  
"Yuki, I said no, it's inappropriate," Ruby said firmly.

"Yuki, Mommy's right about this one, and I'm not a party pooper," Yang said.

"Ok, Auntie!" Yuki chirped.

"Oh, so you'll listen to her, but not me?" Ruby huffed.

"Well, sorry, Mommy, Auntie Yang is more flexible with rules," Yuki said.

"I wasn't allowed to date until I was fifty and married," Ruby crossed her arms.

"Wait! You're not fifty or married, Auntie Yang, are you going to spank Mommy?" Yuki asked, her eyes gleaming.

"Uh... I don't know, I'm more willing to get arrested for whoppin' your daddy more than I am for whoppin' your mommy," Yang stated.

"Ah, I wanted her to get a taste of her own medicine for once," Yuki groaned.

"If you would just obey me you wouldn't get spanked at all. And besides, you barely ever get spankings," Ruby narrowed her eyes at Yuki.

"Well I don't think I should get them at all, I'm not disobeying, I'm just moving the lines draw because they're ridiculous," Yuki protested.

"No, I'm pretty sure when I tell you to not wander off in Food4Less and you run around the whole store moments after I tell you that, is deliberately disobeying," Ruby brought up the several trips to the grocery store.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Positively sure?"

" Positively sure," Ruby answered back. Yuki shrugged.

"Well, I don't exactly mind being the rebel, so that doesn't bother me," Ruby face palmed and Yang was rolling on the floor laughing.

...

Dylan leaned against the rails of the balcony. It was a starry night at the palace, the broken moon at its best, complimenting the many shining stars. Dylan primarily loved nights like these, he always believed that the angels lived in the stars and heaven was on the moon. But this night was different. He had given up hope in his book, setting it on the marble railing of the balcony and sighing. Nothing was going to clear his head at this rate.

The thing was, days as of late, he was being stripped from the only home he had ever known. Slowly, but surely, he was being dragged away as he watch the people he loved, his family fade away in the distance as he's struggling to break the grip of the monster taking him away. Dylan never had a good relationship with his father. Really, he didn't realize _Rick_ was his father until it was brought up when he was four. For as long as he had known, he'd lived with his aunt and uncle, every so often with his father, who did everything in his power to ignore Dylan when he was over. Dylan had always called Blake Mom and Sun Dad since he was a toddler and was learning to speak. Molly, Jake, and Jeni, they weren't cousins to him. They were siblings. His father wasn't his father to him. He was just a distant speck. But this speck was getting larger, and Dylan didn't like it one bit. Now there were two more dust specks getting bigger, and bigger, and were hiding the real family to him.

Dylan never truly paid attention to Rick's sudden efforts to be 'Daddy', he just ignored them and counted down the days until he could go be with his aunt, uncle, and cousins once more. Rick couldn't buy Dylan enough to make Dylan pay attention and Dylan couldn't spend enough time with Rick to get back what they never even had. He couldn't restore a relationship that never existed and the fact that Rick was trying to did nothing but piss off Dylan. And now, he had to deal with this mother and sister of his. He didn't even want his bio-dad, why would he want his missing mother and sister? Why should he care whether they're dead or alive? Why should he be forced out of the family he loves so much and forced to call complete strangers his family. A strange new girl his sister, two unknown people his parents? No, just no.

"Hey, if you think any harder your head's gonna explode," a carefree voice said. Dylan looked up to the side to see a monkey faunus about twelve years old hanging from the maple tree's branch. The tree extended up to the balcony, so Jake could easily swing over the Dylan and sit on the railing. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm just thinking about tomorrow," Dylan sighed. Jake chuckled.

"Aren't you excited? You have a secret twin, how many people can say that?" Jake questioned.

"Who cares about a secret twin, I want Mom, Dad, Molly, you, and Jeni. I don't want them, and I definitely don't want Father. I just want you guys," Dylan explained frantically. Jake gave the boy a sympathetic look.

"Hey, do you remember that book, Murder In Pleasantview?" Jake asked. Dylan nodded.

"It's one of my favorites, why?" Dylan asked.

"Well, remember when you first heard the blurb and saw the cover?" Jake further question.

"I didn't think I'd like it, but I was wrong, it was great," Dylan reminisced.

"Exactly, you were too quick to judge. I know this whole situation seems scary and bad right now, but this could be just like Murder In Pleasantview. You could love your mother and sister, and I'm sure if _you_ would put in the effort, you could very well build a bond with your father," Jake explained his point.

"But what if it falls apart?" Dylan asked. Jake put an arm around the little boy.

"Then at least you can say you tried. Give things a shot, you never know until you try. Something nit-picky Cassandra needs to learn," Jake winked.

"Yeah, who doesn't love shredded ursa and pickled grapes wrapped up in flatbread?" Dylan questioned.

"Cassandra's a pessimist, she always finds something to complain about," Jake shook off.

"Yeah, she's a negative Nancy," Dylan giggled.

"Hey, you were just being a negative Nancy yourself," Jake poked Dylan's nose, making the little boy giggle.

"Actually, I'm negative Ned since I'm a boy," Dylan pointed out.

"Well, with the amount of chick flicks you watch with Mom, I wouldn't be surprised to find out otherwise."

"Hey! They're not chick flicks, they're emotional romances!" Dylan defended.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, bro," Jake grinned before swing himself back into the tree, then swing from branch to branch until he got to his bedroom's window. Dylan smiled to himself.

"Says the boy who's best friend cries at every little thing..."

...


	7. The Twins Reunited

It was the fateful day of the twins meeting for the first time. Dylan was dreading the situation, but knew that he had to try. He had to, for Blake's sake, and for Jake's. Jake's words couldn't go to waste, right? He sighed. It was about five AM when he decided to head to the library for a book. He scanned the various titles carefully. Finally coming across something that interested him, a book on Donnitorrian war strategies. Heading to the sofa near the windows, Dylan began to cough violently. He tossed the book to the sofa and covered his mouth with his hands as he coughed and hacked. Once his small coughing fit was over, he headed to the sofa and curled up under the electric blanket to read his book.

After about an hour of coughing, he happened to wake someone up.

"Dylan, are you ok? What are you doing up so early?" Blake asked from the door to the library. Dylan looked up from his book and over at the concerned cat faunus.

"I'm ok, just feeling a bit sick again," Dylan replied.

"Come on, I'll make you breakfast so you can take your pills and get some cough medicine down you," Blake said. Dylan nodded and set his book down, following Blake through the hall and into the kitchen.

Dylan sat down at the bar connected to the kitchen and watched as Blake pulled out a carton of eggs and some garlic along with a flat bread from the pantry.

"Hey, Mom, do you think that today's gonna... You know, go well?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, but if you really want it to go well, you can try be sociable for once," Blake grinned. Dylan huffed.

"Maybe I'd be sociable with people my age if I weren't surrounded by bumbling idiots," Dylan snorted. "I hate seven year olds." Blake chuckled.

"You know, saying that makes you as immature as you think they are," Blake poked his nose.

"Well, I happen to think I'm better off alone. When has talking to kids my age ever done me any good?" Dylan asked. Blake looked up from the stove that was face the bar.

"You know, I didn't have very many friends growing up either. I wasn't very good a talking to other people, and I primarily just sat in the corner to read, and as much fun as that is at times, it's nice to have someone to talk to every once in a while," Blake explained.

"Not me, I have you for a reason. And I don't need anyone else," Dylan said stubbornly. Blake sighed.

"I'm not always going to be here, Honey," Blake said, serving the eggs in a flat bread to Dylan.

"I know, so I might as well get used to myself," Dylan said as he picked up his sandwich to eat.

...

"Ok, Yuki, like I've said, you need to give the poor boy some time. The two of you aren't going to be best buddies right off the bat, ok?" Ruby re-explained everything to Yuki, who was walking beside her.

"Snowflake, you're hair's falling out of the ribbons," Yang pointed out as she knelt in front of Yuki to fix the little girl's low pigtails. Yang retied the pink ribbons that matched Yuki's light pink frilly dress with lots of bows and ruffles. Yang finished and patted Yuki on the head. "Now you look, _purrfect_," Yang grinned. The pun sent Yuki into peals of laughter.

"Mommy, did you hear that!?" Yuki exclaimed. Ruby nodded with a look of irritation and the pun. Yang looked over at what seemed to be a concert over at the south east of where Yuki and Ruby were heading.

"Hey, Rubbles, would you be ok to go alone?" Yang asked. Ruby walked over to Yang and gave her a quick hug before heading off.

"No worries, I can take care of myself now," Ruby assured as she walked away. "Oh, and enjoy the show!" Yang grinned before walking over to the crowd, to see the performer. To her surprise, he was familiar. Nathan Wilson to be exact.

"So he became a country artist after all? Good for him," Yang murmured to herself.

_ "When I grow up, I want to be a country artist!" a thirteen year old boy exclaimed happily. A group of four kids total, including him, were camping in the forest. _

_ "If that's the case, what are you doing here at Signal?" a fourteen year old Yang asked. _

_ "My parents say I'm no good so I might as well be a hunter," Nathan replied. "I practice a lot though, I just don't get what's so special about Caleb. I mean, he's always been their favorite even though he's stupid."_

_ "Hey, I'm not dumb, I'm just not smart in the slightest bit!" Caleb exclaimed, spraying whiskey across the circle at Yang. Yang wiped her face, a little disgusted with having gotten spitted on._

_ "My point exactly," Nathan confirmed. "Seriously, who spits on their girlfriend?"_

_ "Says the boy who's never had a girlfriend in his life," Caleb spat (again ;p)_

_ "That's because you always get the girls," Nathan pouted. _

_ "Chill, it's fine, I primarily get coughed on by my sister, I can take a little bit of spit," Yang spoke up._

"Good for him... I wonder how Caleb is... It's been years... And I wonder if their mom's still mad at us for framing her for making coke in the basement when it was us?" Yang thought aloud.

"So, can I get any requests?"

...

"Hey!" Blake called to Ruby from a bench by the playground. Ruby and Yuki headed over to them to talk. Rick was on the phone while Blake had a book in her hands. Yuki looked at the man she assumed to be her father. He was a tall, thin man with light blue eyes. His hair was a scraggly mess, sticky out every which way with no rhyme or reason to it, with a pair of purplish black cat ears atop his head, that twitched from irritation. He had an upset and slightly angered look on his face, that looked like a male version of his sister's except for two scars, one going down in an X across his left eye, then another going across his right cheek. Rick was clad in a white lab coat with his badge on a lanyard, simple jeans, and what Yuki could assume was a green polo shirt beneath his coat.

"Look, Miranda, I'm tired of you calling me constantly! We're not dating! That's was what, two years ago? And besides, you're overly attached and it's creepy that you followed my son home from school THREE TIMES! Get a life already!" Rick yelled into his phone before hanging up.

"Rick, they're here," Blake put a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course she's here! She's been following me around for a month now!" Rick exclaimed.

"No, not Miranda-"

"Oh, so it's Kimberly. I always knew she was unhinged," Rick quirked an eyebrow, looking around for some woman named Kimberly.

"No, Ruby and Yuki!" Blake yelled in frustration.

"Yuki? Yuki... Yuki... Oh! Yuki! You mean Mei, right?" Rick was obviously unaware by the fact she went by Yuki.

"She goes by Yuki," Ruby growled. Rick turned to face them before glomping Ruby, who was struggling escape his grasp. "Let go!"

"You don't know what I've put up with since you've been gone! Women are insane!" Rick exclaimed. Ruby shoved him away and made an aggressive face. "Yikes, too soon?"

"Too soon?! TOO SOON!? YOU LEFT ME TO ROT IN A DITCH!" Ruby yelled.

"No, I didn't!" Rick exclaimed.

"Yes, you did!"

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No," Ruby concluded then realized she had changed her answer. "HEY, YOU TRICKED ME!"

"News flash, that's not that hard to do," Rick stated. "Remember when I told you that zombies can exist if given the right amount of chemicals?"

Ruby huffed, "I just trusted that since you were a scientist you knew what you were talking about."

"What's going on?" Yuki asked.

"Oh, Mei, it's a pleasure to meet you again," Rick knelt down to Yuki's level. Yuki flinched.

"Am I in trouble?" Yuki asked.

"No, of course not!" Rick assured.

"Then why are you using Mei? I only get called Mei-Yuki when I'm in trouble," Yuki questioned. Rick glared up at Ruby before rolling his eyes and looking back at Yuki with a gentle smile.

"Sorry, I didn't realize that. Meiko was what I wanted to name you," Rick explained.

"Who came up with Yuki?" Yuki asked.

"Your mother did. You were born during a blizzard, and the window had a hole in it, so there was snow everywhere. And since Yuki means snow in Japanese, and Ruby loved it so much, we compromised on Mei-Yuki."

"Yuki, why don't you go play with the little boy over there. That's your twin brother," Blake pointed to Dylan, who was reading a book on the swing set. Yuki nodded and ran over to him, leaving the adults to talk.

Yuki approached to boy happily and sat in the swing beside him.

"Hi, I'm Yuki, what's your name?" Yuki introduced. Dylan never looked up from his book.

"Dylan."

"Well it's nice to meet you. Whatcha reading?"

"A book."

"Hehe, I can tell," Yuki rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Is it a good book?"

"I suppose," Dylan responded emotionlessly. Yuki chuckled to herself awkwardly.

"... It's really pretty outside today. I think I like fall the best out of all the seasons because it's not too hot and it's not too cold. Plus the trees look pretty," Yuki explained.

"I guess I can agree with that," Dylan replied, again, never making eye contact.

"So, halloween is coming up, what are you going to be? I'm going to dress up as an Military Tinkerbell."

"Yeah that's... Wait, a military Tinkerbell? Uh, I don't think that.." Dylan made eye contact for the first time with Yuki.

"Yeah, Mommy's going to let me wear her belt that hold's her bullets and carry her sniper rifle along with my Tinkerbell costume. You see, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to be a Navy Seal, or Tinkerbell, so I combined them. Only, Tinkerbell's in the air force since she's got wings," Yuki explained.

"Wait, wait, _wait_, she's letting you, a seven year old, run around with a sniper rifle? Are either of you sane?!" Dylan exclaimed.

"Of course I am, it's my friend Jade you have to worry about. She one time beat this one kid in her class up with her guitar. It was awesome! And Mommy's a huntress."

"Umm she's taking out the ammo right? I mean there's a law against bringing a weapon out like that."

"I sure hope not! Mommy said that if I go out of the house with Jade, I should have some way of defending myself because she doesn't trust Jade. Also, what kind of law is that? I need to send the queen a strongly worded email about how dumb that is," Yuki crossed her arms.

"... You lied... Neither of you are sane. And for a youth to really hold a gun especially a sniper rifle they need a permit or go to a school to become a hunter or huntress and neither of us are old enough for either," Dylan explained.

"My mommy's sane! She just has slight issues!" Yuki cried.

"Like what, what would make her do that?"

"Well one, she has no parents, two she's stuck with me, and three Daddy left!" Yuki had an outburst. She always hated it when people talked badly to her about her mom.

"Wait he left? I thought she gave me up because she didn't want me," Dylan questioned.

"No, Daddy left Mommy and I because he didn't want us and took you along for some reason."

"But he... He told me... What does this mean has he been... Lying to me this entire time... " Dylan trailed off filled with mixed emotions and was in deep thought looking towards the ground.

"Hey, I'm just telling you what my mommy and auntie told me. I just spared you the flames and curse words. At least you can believe the one where you don't get ditched now."

"What did they say happened exactly?" Dylan asked carefully.

"They said that after I-we were born, Daddy told Mommy that they were going to leave to Utopia, to start a new life, but he hit Mommy in the back of the head, which apparently makes you sleep for a while and he left Mommy and I in a ditch on the side of the road near Utopia," Yuki explained. Dylan's eyes widened, speechless he stumbled out of the swing dropping his book and taking a few steps back. In his mind things were jumbled but starting to make sense, why his father usually kept his distance from him. "I-I just don't get it... Whenever I see families on TV, everyone's happy, but the more I find out about ours, the more sad it is. And I want it to be happy, so we need to find away to make things happy again," Yuki expressed her feelings on situation, then realized Dylan had dropped his book. She bent down and picked it up, extending it to Dylan. "Here, you dropped it. D-Dylan, are you ok? You look pale," Yuki pointed out. Dylan didn't acknowledge her he was still thinking and his thoughts were just stacking up but his cough brought him out of it. And he looked up at the girl in front of him and wondered just what kind of things she'd been through.

"D-Dylan! Blood! There's blood one your hands! I-Mommy! Help!" Yuki began to freak out, not knowing what to do. Yuki dropped Dylan's book and rushed over to the boy to pat him on the back, in hopes of helping.

"I'm fine I-I'm fine I've just got a bad cough," Dylan partially lied.

"Oh, you should really get some medicine to help with that. But wait, why is there blood? Did you lose a tooth?" Yuki questioned further, showing concern for her twin.

"I-I'm sick... I have been all my life."

"Huh? Is it like cancer or something?" Yuki asked, a confused expression on her face.

"Yeah something like that. They're uh, they're trying to find a cure," Dylan said awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Dylan was just coughing up blood a moment ago, apparently this is a normal thing. Make note of this," Yuki pointed at her mother.

"Wait why is that normal," Ruby asked in a very panicky voice looking at Blake.

Blake sighed, "He was born with Nada. He has a lot of coughing fits and some heart disease."

Dylan looked at his would-be mother while they're talking with a quizzical look and then looked at Yuki and asked with a whisper "Is she overprotective or fragile in this kind of situation?"

"She's paranoid about health. I think she's a hypochondriac or something because not only does she run me into the doctor every two weeks for no reason, she takes a LOT of pills," Yuki whispered back. "Don't know why though."

"What do you mean he's got Nada!?" Ruby exclaimed, nearly bursting into tears.

"like I said he has Nada I mean you-"

"Well is it serious?" Ruby questioned further.

"He has stage 1 nada," Blake answered. "Stage 1, but we don't know if it'll branch out into a specific type yet." 

"If that's the case why is he still sick?" Ruby narrowed her eyes at Blake.

"What are you talking about there isn't a cure. And what you had was a fluke right?"

"I'm mostly cured. I still have heart disease and occasionally cough blood when I get sick, but I was cured."

"Well if they have a cure where is it?"

"Rick's the one that found it... He discovered it about two days after the twins' birth."

"Wait then why hasn't he released it the public?" Blake asked getting a little upset about where this was going.

"I don't know, maybe it's because Rick is a part of the White Fang and they're holding it hostage ," Ruby pointed out. "And this the same man that left his daughter to freeze to death on the side of the freaking road."

"Okay back it up, we don't know that goes part of the white fang if anything he could be working the kinks out of the formula."

"I was there, Blake. And to back up this information, there was somebody there that talked nonstop about you, and how he hoped you'd come back."

"Wait who, what did he look like?"

"Bull Faunus, red hair, hates humans. His name was Adam."

"... No, no that can't be how did he... Do you remember anything else like a place where he might go?"

"He was obsessed with you. It was really creepy. I was sneaking out to meet Rick in the lobby, when I heard him talking to himself about you in his room. I looked through the key hole and saw his room was covered in pictures of you. I don't think I got a good nights sleep in a week after that. Rick said that Adam was always like that."

Blake looked down with both a blush and a freaked out expression playing across her face "What kind of pictures?"

"I didn't get a good look, but there was a pretty funny one of you sleeping, and you were drooling with a book in your hand. Really every picture imaginable. Though your nose is stuck in a book in most of them," Ruby explained. Blake sighed.

"Well I'm going to sleep well tonight.."


	8. Custody

"It was a disaster," Dylan commented.

"Well, do you at least like your sister?" Molly asked.

"Well I-uh- she's not my sister, Molly," Dylan stuttered. He had to admit, Yuki was... different. She was curious, and full of energy. But that girl was insane! He had mixed emotions about her. He'd never tell Blake, but he did like how she was instantly concerned for him when he started coughing, rather than running away out of fear of catching whatever was wrong with him like the kids at school. That, for some reason meant a lot, but still, Yuki was a stranger. Yuki wasn't his sister in his standards. She was a girl he had literally just met that afternoon. It was night now, and Dylan was relaxing in the library with Molly while the adults were discussing things in the kitchen. Dylan knew that Yuki had gone off to play with little Jeni. Despite the age difference, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Jake chuckled.

"She's not a thing like you, Dylan. I mean, she's got the same appearance as you, but she's noisy and can't sit still if she tries," Jake said with as grin. "Which means you two have to balance each other out."

"What! You two don't get the point, do you!? I don't WANT her! I don't want my bio mom or dad! I want you guys and Mom and Dad! And even though she's annoying, I want Jeni too! Are you two trying to get rid of me!?" Molly and Jake froze at Dylan's sudden outburst. "I wouldn't be heartbroken if I never see these people again, but being pushed out of this family, the one I've always been a part of, that's too much. And I don't understand why you'd do this to me." Dylan began to cry a bit. Molly sighed before pulling Dylan into a tight hug.

"You think that you're the only one upset about this? Guess again. We don't want to let go either, but we have to because, Mom and Dad - We all believe this is your best shot," Molly explained. "If we kept you with us, we could miss out on a good relationship you may form with your bio family. And as your sister- us as your family, we don't want you to miss out on something that could be beneficial to you." Molly let go of Dylan slightly, so he could face her. "And we'll always be here for you, you know that."

"I'll always love you guys," Dylan wiped his tears on his sleeve.

"We love you too," Jake piped up, hugging the two of them from the side.

"Do you mind! Some of us are trying to concentrate!" a snooty, aggravated voice came from across the library. Molly rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Cassandra, you're the idiot doing homework while we're trying to have a moment!" Jake yelled.

"Why, you, you little, you filthy moron!" Cassandra came walking towards them, putting a hand on her hip angrily and giving the three an icy glare. Dylan hid behind Molly, who was having a glare contest with Cassandra while Jake just shrugged it off. Suddenly the door of the library flew open and in came a running, crying Will, who attempted to hide behind Cassandra, hugging her waist while she yelled at him.

"Will you dolt! Let go of me!" Cassandra exclaimed.

"They teamed up against me!" Will cried.

"Surrender your territory to us! Fear the power of our forces! Cower in fear and weep as we tax you to death and establish a totalitarian government in your homeland! Watch as we strip away your freedom and-"

"Yuki, what are you blabbing about?" Dylan asked.

"Oh, hi, Dylan! Wanna play with us! Jeni's playing as Utopia, I'm Mistrol, and Will's Vale, it's just like the board game, only this is more fun because you get to beat each other over the heads with swords like in a real war," Yuki explained. Dylan just shook his head.

"Well Vale's damned if Will's in charge," Cassandra stated.

"I'm a great leader!" Will exclaimed.

"And who told you that?" Cassandra asked in an intimidating way.

"Mom told me," Will stated proudly.

"She just said that to boost your ego, Will. You are the dumbest, most disorganized, cowardly eleven year old boy that I've ever encountered," Cassandra said coldly.

"She lied!?"

"Of course, just imagine a country under your rule. It'd be just like Mistrol after the Utopian Mistoli war. No money, no food, lazy ruler, and you're on the edge of getting over taken by a rookie faunus estate that has no experience as a nation yet. You're a mess," Cassandra mocked.

"Shut up! Mistrol shouldn't have messed with us, they had what they had coming and my mother's a great ruler!" Jake yelled.

" Maybe, but you were still a new country when it happened. Mother says that a country is never truly established until it's about fifty years in age, having that in mind, I'm surprised Utopia's last so long," Cassandra snorted.

"What do you thinks going to happen?" Jake asked.

"Oh simple either civil war or a take over. You know that the rest of Remnant hates your guts after what happened at Mistrol and the fact that you're even a kingdom on the map. In other words, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they find your corpses in cellar in about fifty years. "

"Speak for yourself, because everyone hates your family and you and your mom are going down. And if I'm in power when it happens, I'm only going to save Will because he's my friend," Jake crossed his arms.

"Oh please, we have the best security in the world. Mother would never lose to somebody so stupid to go after us, and I'm going to be perfect in every way, therefore, I'll also win," Cassandra snorted.

"Stop it you two, this is stupid. How about we keep our noses out of predicting future political issues and enjoy being kids. Soon enough, Cassandra can plan her takeover, and Jake can plan her execution, but neither of you know anything about what's going on right now, so shut up and go get a go get something to eat from the kitchen," Molly lectured, adding a quick hiss at the end to scare off Cassandra and Jake.

...

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, you left me," Rick stated for the fifth time in the argument.

"No, you left me for dead, stop acting innocent Patrick!" Ruby yelled.

"Ruby, Rick, we didn't come here to argue about who left who, we need to figure out what to do with the twins," Sun stepped in, separating the ex couple.

"Well it's obvious that I'm getting them, I'm the better parent," Ruby scoffed.

"Says who!?" Rick exclaimed.

"Says the fact Dylan barely knows you," Jake said in passing as he grabbed a bag of chips and sat down at the bar. Cassandra sat beside him, keeping her regal posture and neutral, almost frowning look on her face.

"What are you two doing here?" Blake asked.

"Molly hissed and told us to go get a snack from the kitchen," Jake answered.

"Everyone in the library is acting like uncivilized buffoons and I refuse to take part in such behavior," Cassandra stuck up her nose.

"Oh, get over yourself," Jake slammed his head on the bar.

"I beg your pardon!" Cassandra exclaimed.

"Cassandra, us adults are trying to discuss important matters, please run along and find something to humor yourself with," Weiss put a hand on Cassandra's shoulder. Cassandra nodded.

"Yes, Mother," Cassandra replied before walking away. Jake continued to sit there.

"Jake, go play with the other kids," Blake said.

"Mom, I'm twelve, I don't 'play' I hang out," Jake corrected.

"Well go do whatever, I don't care what you do," Blake shook her head and pointed to the door.

"But Mom, I wanna argue!" Jake pleaded.

"Go!"

"This isn't over!" Jake exclaimed. "You'll never make me!" Jake continued as he walked out the door, making Blake face palm.

"Well now that that's over, can you just give me custody of my son," Ruby growled.

"No, I'm not going to lose Dylan too!" Rick exclaimed.

"The two of you are sharing custody. No exceptions," Blake slammed a gravel on the counter tops.

"What, no, I refuse," Ruby crossed her arms.

"Well, neither one of you are getting full custody so it's share or I get custody of both of them, full time," Blake said coldly.

"Anything but that, Blake, I'll adopt both of them, but don't take Yuki away," Yang pleaded at the mention of Yuki getting taken away.

"Then Ruby can share," Blake said emotionlessly.

"But I don't trust Yuki will be safe with him!" Ruby pointed at Rick.

"Yuki will be fine, Dylan's been all these years. You two can work out a schedule," Blake handed them a piece of paper and a pencil.

"Blake?"

"This isn't up for discussion!" Blake yelled.

"I was just curious if we could sharpen the pencil," Ruby shrunk within herself, a little afraid of the amount of power Blake actually had. As queen, with no laws or consol to hold her back, Blake could do whatever she pleased and nobody could stop her. Now, Blake had managed her power, giving people their rights with basic laws to protect the people of Utopia. If she were to change her mind and mindlessly eliminate a whole race for example, nothing was going to stop her.

"O-Oh, yeah, here's a pen instead," Blake blushed a bit before handing Ruby a pen.

"Thanks, Bella," Rick said, hovering over the paper.

...

It was decided that Yuki and Dylan would spend Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday with Ruby and then Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with Rick. Yuki was excited, while Dylan was cursing the day he had to begin the schedule.

Rick was probably the most excited. He completely cleared out his game room and started buying the best of the best for Yuki, while Ruby had to sell Yuki's furniture to be able to afford beds for the two of them, which ended up being bunk beds, much to Dylan's disliking, and hanging up all of their clothes in the closet. There simply wasn't the money or space for a dresser anymore.


	9. They're Always With Us

Thanks to Honorboundfate for helping with Ruby and Yang's conversation in the second section.

...

"You've got everything packed?" Ruby asked. Yuki nodded before giving her mom a hug cheerfully.

"I do. I'm excited, what are you going to do while I'm gone, Mommy?" Yuki asked.

"I'm going to help your aunt move into her new apartment," Ruby answered.

"Where is Auntie Yang?" Yuki asked, cocking her head to the side.

"She's picking up her dog from the kennel," Ruby answered.

"I wanna pet Feefee!" Yuki bounced up and down happily.

"You can when you get home, your," Ruby paused, before sighing. "father is here. Be good, don't drive him insane." Ruby bent over to kiss Yuki's forehead and giving her another hug before walking the little girl over to a black SUV. Yuki looked over at Rick, who was on the phone, talking to someone.

"No, I keep telling you, I don't wanna date you Miranda! Stop call me you stupid- Oh, hey, Mei," Rick caught himself. "No, I wasn't talking to you, you idiot. No. Miranda, stop calling me, I gotta go." Rick concluded his conversation before hanging up and putting on a lopsided grin for the little girl in front of him. "Ready to go, Mei-mi?"

"I'm ready!" Yuki exclaimed happily before running over to the car and crawling into the backseat beside Dylan, who was reading a book, ignoring his sister's presence.

"She's excited," Rick chuckled.

"Yeah... She's excited to see you," Ruby huffed.

"Jealous?"

"No, because I'm her favorite and I always will be," Ruby scoffed.

"I'm not going to disagree, but I want to have a good relationship with my daughter, she's not going to be little forever," Rick said with a slight smile.

"Go ahead, but don't you dare turn her against me," Ruby glared. Rick was a bit taken aback.

"I-I'd never do something like that," Rick stared down at his feet. "That being said, don't you dare feed her any lies about me."

"I'd never lie to Yuki, she's too special to me for me to ever be dishonest with her," Ruby said before walking off.

"Bye, have a good day," Rick mumbled to himself, knowing Ruby wasn't listening before getting into the car.

"Daddy, I'm tired, are we going home?" Yuki rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Well, I had planned on taking you two to the movies, but I have an idea," Rick said, as he began to drive to the theaters.

...

"Well, this is it," Yang said as she opened the door to her apartment.

"Yeah I... Umm what's with all the bottles?" Ruby questioned, looking around the messy to say the least apartment. The air reeked of whiskey, along with empty bottles everywhere you looked, lying around and rotting on the floor and coffee table. The counters were covered in bottles and had used cigars lying about. The couch was torn up and smelled strongly of whiskey. The walls had some pictures, mostly of Ruby and Yang when they were children. The coffee table had a simple black purse covered in Black Rock Shooter buttons next to a bloodstained steak knife slowly rusting in the dust that covered it.

"Oh, I just haven't cleaned up in few days. I should probably go get a trash bag for those. You can start by packing the pillows on the couch into that box over there. And don't mind Feefee, she's a sweetie," Yang grinned before bending down to pick a few bottles up. Asleep on a gigantic pillow was a pitbull...Wearing a bow?

"No I mean what's with the bottles?" Ruby questioned further, grabbing a few leopard print pillows off of the tan couch.

"I never picked them up off the floor when I finished them."

"You... YOU DRINK?!"

"Yeah, why? Don't you? I some in the fridge if you're thirst," Yang offered.

"Ew no, that's gross I like tea and it's good for you unlike that stuff," Ruby stuck out her tongue in disgust. The first drinking experience didn't go well. Especially for Rick, Ruby spit in her face when she didn't like the peppermint ale.

"I don't think I have any, sorry, but I'm sure we can grab something on our way back to Utopia," Yang said as she stacked up laundry from a basket into a box.

"Ugh what I mean is why are you drinking that ugh stuff?" Ruby held her forehead. "When did this start exactly? Although I think I have a pretty good guess."

"Oh, um, a while back. Around the time you died. But truth be told, I've been like this since I was a teenager. It comes and goes," Yang explained awkwardly, pulling her long curly hair to her shoulder.

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, I guess everyone's gotta have their habits. Like Weiss yells, Blake always has her nose in a book, and Ozpin's always drinking coffee."

Ruby muttered something that Yang couldn't understand with her head hung low.

"What's that?"

Ruby shed a few tears and whispered, "Daddy..."

"Oh, I see. You miss him don't you?" Yang walked over and puts an arm around Ruby.

"It's just that you, Weiss, and Blake have come back into my life and I've yet to see him and if you've picked up drinking that just makes me worry about what he might have done while I've been gone," Ruby sobbed, holding her head with her right hand.

"Other than get married, have another daughter, hire Jaune as a teacher, and consume extreme amounts of coffee, he's up to nothing," Yang assured.

WHA... "Ruby never finished her statement since she fainted from the third shock she got since entering the apartment and almost crashed into the bottle covered floor, only for Yang to catch her. 

"Ruby!" Yang set Ruby onto the couch, brushing the hair out of her face. "YO!" Ruby jolted alert to be met with a headache.

"Ow why are you yelling so loudly?" Ruby rubbed her forehead from the rude awakening.

"Waking you up. What's the problem?" Yang asked. In reality, Yang knew that things weren't ok, but acting like everything was ok was all Yang knew how to do. When they were kids, Yang would act like things were just fine, even though they were all alone without a parent to keep them safe. She's act like she was fine as a teenager, even when she had few friends and didn't see any point in living, she'd act happy, for Ruby's sake. Secretly, Ruby always knew how Yang really felt. She caught her passed out in her dorm at Signal or she'd notice Yang covering her arms in the middle of summer with a sweater. Ruby just didn't want to believe it.

"I fell asleep?" Ruby questioned.

"You fainted," Yang replied.

"I did? Oh yeah you told me that..." Ruby trailed off.

"Sorry, he just... You know, moved on. I-I've tried to, but I can't. Every time I get something good in my life, it's ripped out from under me, I've just stopped trying." Yang sat down at the end of the couch with a sigh.

"I'm, I'm so sorry. I took so much from you, I'm sorry," Ruby whispered the last part.

" No, no, no, it's ok. You wouldn't have been with me even if you had stayed. I was being selfish and only thinking of myself when I wouldn't let go. I didn't think that those other kids should get cured when you-we suffered too much," Yang assured, pulling Ruby into a tight embrace with a few tears.

"I want to meet them..."

"Meet who? Ozpin's family? Or..." Yang paused awkwardly. 'Does she know?' Yang wondered.

"All of them. Dad, JNPR, my step mother... My little sister, all of them," Ruby said. 

"Oh, ok, I guess next time we're in Vale, we can visit," Yang answered awkwardly. Last time she spoke to Ozpin, it hadn't been much of a conversation. Mostly Ozpin questioning what she was doing with her life, opening a restaurant instead of being a huntress.

"... That sounds nice... Well we had better start packing."

...

"Ok, I'd like one caramel latte, one vanilla cappuccino, one bottled water, and three cake pops," Rick ordered. Yuki was nervously standing beside Rick, at the Nebulaluck's counter. Unlike Dylan, who was sitting at a table, glaring at the two of them with a look of disgust.

"Why don't you go sit with your brother, Mei, I'll be over there waiting for our drinks," Rick suggested, patting Yuki on the back. Yuki nodded slowly before approaching Dylan carefully. She quickly sat down and looked over at her twin in silent wonder.

"What's your life been like?" Yuki accidently thought aloud.

"It was perfect until _you_ showed up. I had the perfect family until you and your stupid mother showed up and Aunt Blake made our bio parents share custody of us," Dylan hissed. Yuki was taken aback by this, she never really thought Dylan hated her, more that he was shy, but it was obvious the boy was extremely upset about the situation.

"Our aunt and uncle were a family to you, weren't they? They were your mommy and daddy?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, and you'll never be my sister," Dylan crossed his arms angrily.

"My mommy says if you love somebody, that as long as you hold onto their memory, and how much you love them, you'll never be alone. That they'll always be with you to help you back up when you fall. Th-That's what Mommy said," Yuki stuttered. "I-I don't expect you to love me, Dylan. Mommy said that you probably wouldn't, and that it'd take time until we became close like other twins, but I'm going to try and be the best sister you could ever have, even if you don't want me. I'll stay out of your way and let you have the limelight when you want it, and I will even let you have my desert every night, just please, don't hate me when I'm still a stranger. If you hate me, let there be a reason for it, not just because things didn't work out they way you wanted them to."

Dylan's features softened a bit. He sighed before murmuring, "I don't hate you. But I don't love you. And I don't think I ever will."

"I'm ok with that," Yuki whispered as Rick approached the twins with a tray of drinks.

"One bottled water," Rick passed a water bottle to Dylan, who snatched it out of Rick's hand with a hiss. Rick flinched before hesitantly handing Yuki her vanilla cappuccino. Yuki grabbed it a lot more gentle than her brother.

"Thank you, Daddy," Yuki yawned.

"No prob, kiddo, this should keep you awake," Rick smiled.

"Cake? For breakfast?" Dylan questioned, looking at the three cake pops on the table.

"Yeah, why not?" Rick asked.

"We're seven. And besides, Aunt Blake would never let me eat that," Dylan spat angrily.

"Well I'm not your aunt, so eat up, kid," Rick replied.

"You. Are. AWESOME!" Yuki exclaimed, grabbing a cake pop and sticking it in her mouth.

"See, Mei agrees," Rick winked at Dylan, who hissed in response.

...

Ruby walked into what she found to be Yang's bedroom to grab Yang's scroll charger as requested. Ruby flinched. Again, what a mess. Bottles, everywhere, ash tray on the dresser, and worst of all, it smelled just like the living room. Ruby shook her head before walking all the way into the room to observe more. Yang's bed was unmade, her orange quilt ragged and by the looks of it, had her tangled in it the last time she was there. The walls had two bulliton boards, covered in so many photos, it heard Ruby's eyes to try and look at them. She sat down on the bed to unplug the charger from the wall under the night stand, on to see two picture frames on the nightstand. One was face down, and the other Ruby could see had a picture of the two sisters when they were fourteen and twelve. Ruby tried to lift the other one-

"What are you doing!?"an angry voice shouted. Ruby turned around to see Yang storming towards her.

"It was turned down so-"

"Don't touch that!" Yang snatched it away, not allowing Ruby to see the picture inside. "I turned it on its face for a reason. Don't touch it, ever," Yang growled, shoving the picture frame into her bag.

"S-Sorry, sis, I didn't realize that you'd be bothered if I looked," Ruby said sadly, disappointed at Yang's outburst. The older woman sighed.

"It's fine. I realized you're worried about what happened to me while you were gone, but I'm fine. Obviously, I moving, I'm starting a new life. You're all I've got, and I'm not going to let go, but we're not kids anymore. You can't go through my stuff or just look at my personal belongings anymore, it's an invasion of privacy. I haven't gone through your stuff, so please leave me be," Yang explained, sitting down beside Ruby. Ruby sighed.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, just remember that, ok?" Yang grinned, pulling Ruby into a hug. "I've missed you, baby sis."

"I've missed you too, big sis," Ruby murmured.


	10. The Meeting

"Come on, make yourself useful for once!" a little girl snapped, crossing her arms angrily. She was tan with light brown hair that waved down her back. Her face was youthful, just as a child's should be, her demanding green eyes judging with a mental measuring stick every move, every motion, every single detail. A little boy beside her groaned, running a hand through his ginger hair. He seemed to be younger than the girl, and oddly submissive to the older girl's demands.

"C-Come on, Crystal, I don't want to wake up Mommy and Daddy," the little boy pleaded. Crystal crossed her arms and smirked mischievously.

"Oh, Richard, poor boy, you just don't understand yet do you?" Crystal mocked, circling her brother. "I give the orders, and you obey, got it?"

"G-Got it," Richard gulped, his hazel eyes with a little fear. He climbed up onto the chair and grabbed the forbidden cookie jar before passing it down to his sister. Crystal emptied the cookies and candy into a backpack then handed the jar back to Richard. Richard set the jar back onto top of the fridge, when suddenly-

"What do you think you're doing?" a voice pierced Richard's soul. He turned around slowly.

"D-Daddy, I-"

"Candy heist, eh?" Roman quirked an eyebrow as he took his cigarette out of his mouth.

"It's Crystal. She made me do it," Richard defended.

"And her little plan would've worked had the two of you not made a racket walking past our room," Cinder crept out of the darkness.

"We thought you were sleeping," Crystal looked down at her feet.

"No, Daddy and I were planning our next heist on the Schnee Dust Company," Cinder replied. "How much did you take?"

"The whole jar. We stuffed it with empty wrappers from our last ice cream truck robbery in the jar," Crystal explained.

"Ice cream truck robbery?" Roman questioned.

"Yeah, we used the gun Uncle Mercury gave us and put it against the driver's head. We gave us all the ice cream, and we spared the old man's life," Richard said as he climbed down from the chair. Cinder did a slow clap while Roman wore a big grin.

"A successful robbery all by yourselves without our instruction? We're so proud of the two of you. Before you know it, you'll have this town running scared," Roman said in a proud voice as he put a hand on his daughter and son's shoulders. Cinder nodded.

"Why don't you go to sleep? We've all got a big day tomorrow. We're gonna go rob Dust-Mart, tomorrow," Cinder said as she disappeared into the darkness again.

"Goodnight, Mommy," Richard waved bye before giving Roman a quick hug and running off to his room. Crystal returned to her respectable room as well, crawling under her stolen blankets from the family's last hotel visit.

...

_ "Welcome to Atlas, please proceed to the right to the building over there. Enjoy your stay, your Highness," a dog faunus woman greeted as Blake crawled out of a crammed limo. She looked around, taking in the sights. The city shined brightly, powered by the best of the best dust, several tall sky scrapers surrounded the cat faunus, the brightness nearly blinding her. Everywhere you looked were big business and political figures walking around. They, like herself were attending a Vytal Republic meeting. In order to maintain peace through trade for the better of everyone, the original four kingdoms formed an alliance. The treaty decreed that the four kingdoms would share their resources, as well as support each other when grim and outsider attacks took place. _

_ As a new kingdom, it had been a question everyone was asking; Will Utopia join the Vytal Republic, or will they be a threat to the other four kingdoms? After a month of wrestling over the decision, Weiss had convinced Blake to join Utopia. After all, the kingdom was still getting on its feet, and with new people traveling there constantly, lien was growing short as well as dust and jobs. It was for the best. _

_ So there she was, waiting by the building for Weiss to show her where to go, barely able to stand, much less walk in the heels she was given. Blake watched as more people flooded into the building, a few distantly familiar faces such as Weiss' fiancé, Kevin Shwartz, King of Vale, and that dirt bag King Zane of Mistrol. Blake decided that Weiss was obviously in one of those business meetings where she gets to brag about how well the company's doing, therefore wouldn't be there in a while. Weiss took the dust company VERY seriously. And whenever she got to discuss it with other people who understood her business, she got kinda giddy. Like a crush crazed school girl. Blake reminisced the last time she order dust from Weiss and the woman wouldn't stop giggling happily and talked Blake's ears off about finances for two hours straight. Tripping a bit in her heels, Blake stumbled towards the door in the rain before slipping into a puddle. Blake groaned and took off her heels before pulling herself to her feet and walking into the building. She was encountered with a busy lobby with a big, crystallized dust chandelier. On the walls were paintings of Atlas' rulers and Schnee family members. Shaking her head, Blake ran to the hallway marked 'Leaders', dodging bellboys and rich people. She wandered down the less magnificent hall way with green wall paper and plain white lights. Blake held her heels in one hand and a book to her face with another, every so often looking at the room numbers. Suddenly CRASH! _

_ "Ouch! Hey watch where you're- Oh, hey," a man with untamed light brown hair stuttered._

_ "Sorry, I should've been paying attention," Blake responded as she grabbed a few of the flying papers. "Here, I think these belong to you." Blake handed the man his papers. He grinned and grabbed them back before handing Blake her shoes._

_ "I think my mother has the exact same shoes," he commented._

_ "Can your mother actually walk in these death traps?" Blake asked, grabbing her book and pulling herself to her feet and dusting off her black dress suit. _

_ "Yeah, you can't?" he asked._

_ "No, I gave up when I tripped for the fifth time today since wearing them," Blake said as she began to walk down the hall again, with the man in a black tux following her. _

_ "Ah, I see. I'm King Gregory of Vacuo, and you are?" the man introduced._

_ "Queen Isabella of Utopia, but I go by Blake," Blake introduced. _

_ "I thought you might be since the cat ears," Greg pointed out._

_ "Yeah, I guess I stand out here," Blake blushed a bit, her black cat ears twitching a bit, making the dangling ruby jingle. _

_ "Well you're much more dressed up than the maids," Greg pointed out._

_ "Gee, thanks," Blake rolled her eyes. Greg awkwardly chuckled. _

_ "But in seriousness, you look very pretty," Greg wrung his wrists._

_ "Oh, thank you," Blake replied. "Do you know where I'm supposed to be? My friend was supposed to show me, but she's obviously meeting happy," Blake questioned._

_ "Oh, we should be in the same meeting and that's a few more doors down," Greg replied, picking up the pace. "Hurry, we're already late."_

_ "Crap, I was hoping to make a better impression," Blake sighed as she rushed towards the door that Greg was holding open. Inside was meeting happy Weiss giggling and giddily talking about politics with Kevin, then she spotted Blake._

_ "Blake! I saved you a seat, where were you?!" Weiss exclaimed. Blake awkwardly walked over to Weiss and sat down, Greg sitting on the other side of Blake. _

_ "Gregory, late as always I see. Let's not be such a bad example to Isabella here," Ironwood stated, crossing his arm disapprovingly. _

_ "Hey, I'd be lying to say it won't happen again. We kinda ran into each other in the hallway," Greg explained._

_ "Anyways, as you all know, we are in a time of peace, but according to Professor Ozpin and Professor Port from Beacon, that might not last. Gentlemen, do you mind standing up to explain?"Zane questioned._

_ "Certainly," Ozpin rose from his seat and pulled out a remote to show clips of a presentation on a board._

_ "You see, grim have been getting bigger and smarter. In fact, we've recently lost two teams due to smarter grim-"_

_ "Or dumber students," Glynda added. _

_ "I'm more willing to go with the grim," Ozpin said, dismissing Glynda who huffed and sat back down._

_ "So in other words more dust?" Weiss asked hopefully._

_ "That and we need to find out a way of keeping the grim out of the cities. The military might have to get involved in this," Ozpin explained. _

_ "And on top of that, Vale's been being terrorized by the White Fang as of late," Kevin added. "What are we supposed to do about that? People are being killed in the streets and I'm about to move my lovely Weiss there. How about we deal with that first?" _

_ "Kevin, you're forgetting one big thing, the White Fang is desperate. We're talking orphans who's only choice is to join so they don't starve," Weiss said, straightening her posture. "There's only one way to eliminate the problem, and that's through equal rights and help. If we can get these barely surviving people jobs, get these children fed, we can fix the whole problem at its source."_

_ "It'd be a good way of figuring out who's the psychos and who's the struggling parent trying to feed five kids," Blake said. "And along with that, we need to provide education like the White Fang does."_

_ "That's preposterous! Almost as embarrassing as having to call you a queen!" Zane jumped out of his seat angrily. _

_ "I beg your pardon! Blake is a better ruler than you'll ever be! On top of that, she's a direct royal from the first of chiefs of her tribe. Aren't you a revolution brat?" Weiss growled proudly._

_ "She's a faunus, she's as royal as a slave," Zane snorted. _

_ "And you're a pathetic excuse for a peasant!" Weiss yelled._

_ "Wasn't your family millers? Oh, and I see you aren't marrying your cousin, that must feel weird, doesn't it, Schnee?" Zane mocked._

_ "What?! At least I come from a hard working lineage," Weiss crossed her arms._

_ "Yeah, so hard working all your family did for years was sit around and spend money. What a waste of space," Zane hissed._

_ "Why you!"_

_ "And didn't your family massacre faunus for no other reason but that they were faunus? So who are you to spout the lie of faunus equality?" Zane said leaning into Weiss' face. Weiss scowled and quickly grabbed her glass of wine and flung it into his face. Zane stepped back, wiping off his face frantically while Weiss sat back down and just grinned at her accomplishment._

_ "Weiss, I can hold my own you know," Blake put a hand on Weiss' shoulder. Weiss shrugged._

_ "You're my best friend, I'm not going to let somebody step on you like that," Weiss said in a soft, quiet voice. "And I know you'd stand up for me too."_

_ "Defiantly."_

_ "All faunus, Schnees, and revolutions aside, we've got bigger grim and terrorists in the main countries. Vale's been hit the worst and we need to find a way to keep this from spreading to Atlas," Ironwood said, putting the feud to an end officially. _

_ "That woman's crazy! She threw wine in my face! Kevin, are you really marrying that, that-"_

_ "Say it, I dare you," Kevin raised a fist before adjusting his taped together glasses._

_ "HAHA! Don't make me laugh! You aren't in the least bit threatening, Shwartz. In fact, you're starting make me feel embarrassed for the Schnee. I mean, talk about a joke on legs. The only reason we ever hung out was because you were smart and so desperate, therefore did my homework. Go ahead, Kevin, hit me with your best shot," Zane mocked. Kevin threw his punch at Zane's chest with all of his might. Zane chuckled before shoving Kevin on the floor and taking his glasses._

_ "Pathetic," Zane spat. Weiss pulled Myrtenaster out of its sheath and charged at Zane, nearly piercing him had Ironwood not come between the two of them, knocking Myrtenaster out of Weiss' hand. _

_ "This is no way to act in a meeting!" Ironwood scolded._

_ "Yeah, for as much as you call the faunus uncivilized savages, Isabella's the best mannered one here," Greg pointed at Blake, who blushed at being put on the spot. Ironwood grabbed the glasses from Zane and handed them to Kevin, who put them back on and pulled himself to his feet. Weiss walked closer to him to check if he was ok while Zane walked toward a door._

_ "How about the evening's entertainment?" Zane asked._

_ "Finally, a good idea," Ironwood applauded before sitting down. Weiss and Kevin took their seats and waited for Zane to push to red button that'd open the door. Once the door opened, it revealed a bunch of electric wires that all ran to a man in a chair. He was a tall faunus man with black stringy hair that hung in his face, black cat ears that had electric wires clipped to them, wires were in his mouth, and he had baby blue eyes that were filled with fear. Wires were attached to his nails, his nostrils, his toes, his neck, and his limbs. A bunch of barb wire was wrapped pretty tightly around his chest and stomach. Blake felt her stomach turn upside down at the sight. _

_ "This man can communicate to the spirits, move objects, and read minds. Who'd like to experience his powers first?" Zane questioned._

_ "I'm not doing it," a muffled, pained voice came from the man. Zane smirked._

_ "Oh really?" Zane pulled a lever slightly, sending electricity through the wires, earning pained shriek from the faunus man. "How about now, Cougar?"_

_ "I'm not submitting to you. You'll have kill me first," the man replied weakly. Zane grinned._

_ "Then let the show begin," Zane turned the notch up, giving the man a more intense shock than the last. Blake stood up from her chair. _

_ "Stop it! That's a person!" she yelled. _

_ "No, just some degenerate we picked up a while back," Zane replied, turning the notch up even more. _

_ "Blake, there's nothing you can do about it, this happens every year," Greg said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Weiss growled in disgust, crossing her arms and pulling out her scroll. Blake watched as the man was given more and more intense shocks and couldn't stand it. The cat faunus stormed over to Zane and knocked him over the head. Throwing Zane on the ground, Blake turned off the machine and destroyed the machine with Gambol Shroud. After that she rushed over to the man and did her best to free him from the wires. Blake, after a few minutes of cutting the wire the man was free from the torture trap. He was barely able to look at her before collapsing. Blake caught him in her arms and gently caressed his hair, wiping the sweat off of his face while he was passed out. Weiss rushed to her friend, getting to her knees beside Blake._

_ "I can't believe you did that," Weiss said, wrapping her arms around Blake's neck._

_ "I can't believe that nobody else did," Blake replied before raising her voice, "You know, I've been treated like crap all day, called an uncivilized savage, and made fun of. This is the last straw. You want to make fun of me, fine, go ahead, but don't you dare torture innocent people! I can't believe that you are considered to have class. I'm done, you can keep your little club, Utopia doesn't need this." and with that, Blake scooped up the malnourished man and began to walk away. _

_ "Blake! Wait! What about the dust!?" Weiss came running after her. Blake turned her head to see Weiss._

_ "I'll figure something out. This is unacceptable," Blake replied. Greg walked over and helped Blake carry the man out of the room._

_..._

_"I called as soon as I heard what happened!" Weiss exclaimed._

_ "I don't know what to do," Blake ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't want to get in a war this early, but I have choice but to attack Mistrol back."_

_ "I'll supply the dust, how much do you need?" Weiss asked, pulling out a clipboard and a pen._

_ "What's the most dangerous kind you got?" Blake asked. Weiss paused._

_ "Well... We've been working on a weaponized fire, electric, and ice dust bombs. W-We haven't tested them-"_

_ "I'll take them," Blake said._

_ "But Blake-"_

_ "Weiss, that man the tortured at the meeting is my brother. I'm going to kill Zane even if it's the last thing I do," Blake hissed at the thought. _

_ "O-Ok, I'll send you the supplies you'll need, stay safe, my friend," Weiss said before hanging up. Blake sighed and sunk in her office chair. Her phone began to ring again, so she picked it up._

_ "Hello?"_

_ "Isabella, if you need anything, Vacuo is on your side," Greg assured._

_ "Gregory?" Blake questioned._

_ "Just call me Greg, we're friends. I want to help you win this," Greg said._

_ "O-Ok, I gotta go, but thanks," Blake hung up before walking out of her office to a spare bed room in the palace. Lying under the covers was Rick, sleeping pretty peacefully. Blake sat beside him and gave him a quick hug. "It's going to be ok this time, Ricky."_


	11. Acid Tears and Vacation Plans

It was a rainy day in Utopia. As the rain beat down on the ground and structures around the apartments, Yang walked to the mail box. Ruby was busy picking up Dylan's prescriptions from CVS, so Yang decided to get the mail while she was gone. Not like there was anything better to do. The only channels on TV Ruby had was the Weapon Channel, the Anything-But-Weather Channel, Kids Center, and some channel in Spanish. Despite liking to make up conversations for the shows in Spanish, Yang got bored of Soap Opras, swords, tornados, and teenagers acting like idiots. So there she was, standing in the rain, soaked from head to toe, going through the mail.

"Classic Ruby," Yang chuckled at the sight of Weapon Weekly. She went through a little more. A catalogue for dolls only Cassandra could collect without putting her parents in the poor house, bills, taxes, and a magazine for country music. Yang quirked an eyebrow. "When did she get into country?"

"Did they swap our mail again?" a voice asked from beside Yang. Yang looked up to see Nathan standing beside her, going through the mail as well.

"Apparently. Here," Yang handed him the magazine.

"Thanks," he replied, handing Yang a package.

"What's this?"

"Probably some kind of metal. Ruby's been working on making Yuki a trainer scythe, if that's even a thing," Nathan explained.

"Oh, ok," Yang said, no questions asked. "Little Yuki with a scythe. She'll look like the grim reaper took her to take your kid to work day." Yang chuckled at the thought.

"I had the same reaction when I first say Ruby's weapon back at Signal," Nathan commented. "By the way, Yuki's not the one you should be afraid of. Jade's the scary one."

"Jade? She seems like a sweet girl," Yang questioned.

"She's got interesting powers. Her semblance is acid, but she's got an extra power. It's to turn into a little green dragon," Nathan explained.

"A dragon?"

"Yeah, when she's upset. She has a hard time managing her emotions and that makes her very violent. Not like that's anything new," Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Yuki has mentioned her always being trouble at school before," Yang commented.

"It's because she's dangerous. She might as well be a halfy like Yuki the way they treat her. Jade's never been good at making friends, simply because they don't understand her. She's always really hurt when she sees kids with their moms and dads, and the other kids think that she's just being mean. In reality, destruction's just her initial reaction when something upsets her. Because of that, she tears things apart, burns them with acid, and becomes violent towards other people. She's a good kid though. Just misunderstood," Nathan explained. "And the worst part is, the woman she's been trying to track down is right under her nose."

"So you're finally willing to admit it to yourself, why don't you go tell Jade," Yang shrugged.

"She'd be utterly disappointed. I'd rather lie to her the rest of her life than let you be a part of her life. After all, you ruined it," Nathan growled.

"Look, I know you're mad, but you have to believe me, I never meant to hurt her, and I'd take it all back if I could."

"That doesn't make things better. You better not set a bad example for Yuki, because after the ceremony, she'll be my daughter," Nathan said as he started to walk away.

"You do realize I'm stable currently, right?" Yang questioned as she followed him.

"Then what's that on your wrist? Cat? No, I forgot, you cut yourself, don't you. Most kids grow out of that, Yang," Nathan taunted. Yang quickly pulled her sleeves down to hide the pointed out scars.

"Yuki's seven, she's not going to pick up on that habit. She's too young to understand," Yang commented.

"Is she?"

"Duh."

"You know, all those years ago when we got married, I honestly thought it'd last, but then you just had to go and ruin everything," Nathan sighed.

"I know I screwed up, but it shouldn't be too late to be a part of my own daughter's life," Yang urged.

"It's too late. Jade doesn't need you, and Ruby's going to be a lot better for her. If you love her, even in the slightest, let her go. Don't hold Jade back when she has so much potential in the future," Nathan said as he opened the door to his apartment, making Yuki shoot out of the door screaming.

"What the-"

"SAVE ME!" Yuki jumped into Yang's arms. Yang quirked an eyebrow.

"Why is my niece in your apartment?" Yang questioned, scowling.

"That's what I'd like to know," Nathan sighed before walking inside of the apartment. Yang was shocked to see how different his apartment was from Ruby's. While Ruby was obviously barely making enough to get by, Nathan was doing quite well. The furniture was much nicer, he had several acoustic guitars lined up in the den, as well as three golden records. Yang was still carrying Yuki, who she had swung over to her back as she walked inside.

"Jade!" Nathan called. A groan was heard from a room with green painted letters spelling Jade. She grumbled her way over, all slumped over as she walked.

"Did the ghost get you, Jade?" Yuki asked worriedly. Jade rolled her eyes.

"Man, you really are stupid, Yuki. There's no such thing, I was just made that up so you'd leave me alone," Jade narrowed her eyes at the little girl.

"T-That's really mean!" Yuki exclaimed, dropping herself from Yang and stomping her foot.

"Oh, I'm sorry, does the baby need mommy to kiss her booboo? Get over it. Life sucks sometimes, and you were being really annoying," Jade crossed her arms.

"Yikes. She really has been watching a lot of Cassandra's stuff," Yang commented.

"I'm so sick of Cassandra," Nathan sighed.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Jade shot her a glare. Yang stepped back a bit. Staring right at her was a fanged and clawed girl, her eyes red as blood.

"Uh, I was just talking with your father," Yang responded, a little intimidated by Jade.

"Wow, give the girl the sister of the year reward," Jade did a slow clap.

"It's not like that!" Yang exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, like I haven't heard that one before. I'm going to explain this in a way your type understand," Jade a ripping of fabric could be heard and almost immediately after a pair of dragon wings flared out from Jade's back aggressively. "No matter what anyone says, my real mom _will _come back for me. So hands off of my daddy, he's taken."

"JADE LUCKY WILSON!" Nathan shouted, pulling her away from Yang and to the side. "We've been over this. She's not coming back." Yang watched as Jade started to cry a little bit, green acidic tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Is it because I'm a freak?" Jade asked.

"No, you're not a freak, your special," Yang budged in at hearing Jade's words.

"Stay out of this, Xiao Long," Nathan hissed.

"Yeah, that's what the teachers at school say," Jade crossed her arms. "That's code for not normal."  
"Normal's boring," Yang shrugged.

"Well I'd rather be boring than weird," Jade said, turning her back to the adult.

"Point is Jade, you're stuck with Ruby. And no, I'm not involved with Yang here. That sounds like the crappy plotline of some Mexican soap opera," Nathan commented, making Jade smirk.

"That would el sucko," Jade chuckled.

"Yeah, it really would. I was just chatting with her at the mail boxes. We were talking about music," Nathan assured.

"Ok," Jade replied shortly, her form returning to that of a normal little girl with bright green eyes.

"Now," Nathan started as he stood up, "I think you owe miss Yuki an apology."

"Why, she was annoying me?" Jade shrugged.

"Because you could've just asked her to stop doing whatever she was doing that was getting on your nerves. Scaring her was wrong," Nathan explained.

"B-But that's embarrassing!"

"Jade."

"F-Fine," Jade turned to face Yuki. "Sorry for scaring the crap out of you, and shoving you down the stairs... and melting your doll... and getting acid on your blanket... and saying I'd cut off your food supplies for your secret stash."

"There's a secret stash of food?!" Yang cried.

"Y-Yeah, it's under my bed, but don't tell Mommy!" Yuki hid behind Jade in fear.

"So what you're saying is, that I've been eating mystery veggies, meat even starving children in Mistrol would through away, burnt water, and frozen solid cereal when there was a stash of real food?" Yang asked.

"Y-Yeah. Mommy's delusional and thinks she can cook, so I keep it under my bed, in my closet, under the couch, in the linen closet, and over here at Jade's. Nathan gives me a thirty dollar allowance each week to order pizza and Chinese takeout. I eat it outside and throw it in the neighbor's trash can," Yuki explained. "Dylan's still learning the food ropes."

"Where is Dylan, anyways?" Yang asked.

"School, like any other nerd," Jade shrugged.

"Wait a second, shouldn't you two be in school yourselves?" Yang asked.

"What's the point, school's for nerds," Jade said.

"Daddy said I'm herby homeschooled, but Dylan's stubborn and refuses to let Daddy teach him anything. So Dylan goes to school on his free time. Well, Mommy actually doesn't know I'm homeschooled yet, but I had Dylan help me get all of my homework down last night," Yuki explained.

"So Rick's homeschooling you, and has given you work to do at Mommy's?" Yang asked.

"Yep!" Yuki chirped.

"This isn't going to be hard to explain at all," Yang shook her head.

"Hey, you kinda look familiar," Jade pointed out.

"SHE DOES!?"

"I do!?"

"Yeah, I swear I've seen your face before. And those curls too," Jade examined Yang from head to toe.

"You've never seen her before dinner a week ago, Jade," Nathan said.

"No, I know exactly who she is," Jade said.

"Y-You do?" Nathan gulped.

"Yep. She did one of those Amanda Todd esque videos. Though she was much younger in it. Like maybe fourteen or so," Jade shrugged.

"Oh, I forgot about that thing," Yang said, remembering what Jade was talking about.

"Yeah, must be her," Nathan rolled his eyes.

...

Sun walked into the office to see Blake organizing her paper work in a nit picky pile, as well as color coding her files.

"Hey, when's my paid vacation?" Sun asked, tapping his hand on Blake's desk to get her attention.

"Hold on, I'll get the president of the slack-off committee to answer your question," Blake said before ducking under her desk and coming back up with a sweat shirt on. "This is president of the slack-off committee, your paid vacation is available whenever you need it." Sun chuckled.

"What about yours?"

"Well, I'll have to get Weiss to take care of things and sit in my meetings, so that has to be arranged, but other than that, I'm free whenever," Blake explained.

"What about Molly's dance?" Sun asked.

"She'll live if she misses a few practices."  
"Jake's gymnastics, football, soccer, and boxing?"

"Off season."

"Jeni's preschool?"

"All stuff she already knew."

"Molly and Jake's school?"

"Jake's in seventh grade, Sun, it's just the same things you learned in sixth grade all over again for the point of graduating you at eighteen and Molly's far ahead. Why, do you want to go somewhere?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to go to Vacuo," Sun shrugged.

"Ok, I'll arrange that if you call your parents. I really don't want to be the one to call them and tell them we're coming to town," Blake said.

"They're still bummed you're a cat faunus," Sun commented.

"Yeah, and they think I'm a terrorist for bombing out Mistrol," Blake added.

"Don't forget to mention they would've rather me married a gorilla faunus or potentially an arraitang," Sun said.

"And they think Molly and Jeni should've been monkey faunus."

"And they made me promise I'd wear a shirt at my wedding."

"Hey, Sun, did I do the right thing to bomb untested bombs on Mistrol?" Blake asked, breaking the cycle of Sun's parent's dislikes.

"Huh? Sure, why not? They killed everyone but me and some kid when they bombed us. Totally wiped the city of Tolona of the map," Sun said, sitting down on the couch in the office. Blake walked over and sat next to him.

"But I don't even know if I fought that war for Utopia," Blake said.

"What do you mean? Why else would you fight?" Sun asked, a confused expression painted on his face.

"It was more emotionally driven on my part. Zane tortured my younger brother for years, and I was acting upon getting revenge over that more than I was for my country. That's why I didn't give the citizens time to evacuate when I dropped the dust bomb," Blake explained. "I can't believe I didn't stop to think of all the innocent people killed along with Zane."

"Well we all screw up sometimes," Sun pointed out. "Plus, you were nineteen."

"I still feel bad about it."

"Well don't. Zane got what he deserved for placing a bomb in an orphanage. Screw him, screw it all, nobody blames you. In a way, it was all self defense and nobody has to know it was more revenge than oh crap," Sun explained. Blake sighed before looking up at Sun.

"I hope you're right," she said.


	12. Food Club

"First rule of Food Club, you do not mention Food Club. Second rule of Food Club you do not eat the forbidden food of Food Club. Third rule of-"

"Ok, enough of this, let's get to the meeting, will we, I'm hungry," Dylan flipped the lightswitch on in his and Yuki's room. It was quite different now that he had moved in. Many of Yuki's extra toys got sent to Rick's to make room for Dylan who slept across the room from Yuki. His space had a picture of Blake, Sun, Molly, Jake, Jeni, and him together on the wall next to his bed and a few shelves to hold books on. Under his bed were more books, and he insisted instead of a normal nightstand, he'd stack books to save money. Ruby was quite the sucker for helping people, so she would a lot of times offer her services free of charge, giving the family financial problems. Yang was still moving her restaurant to Utopia, so she had no money to pitch in, and Ruby sure wasn't going to ask Rick for money. Nathan was already buying groceries so Ruby could make her bills, but that didn't seem to be enough.

"Oh come on, I wanna do the rule of Food Club thing!" Yuki complained. Yang pat the whining child on the back.

"Let's just eat, ok, Snowflake," Yang suggested.

"Ok!" Yuki chirped, running to her window and opening it up. "CAWCAWFRAWCLAWCAWCAW!" Yuki called out into the world.

"What is that?" Dylan questioned.

"What do you mean, it's what a sloth says," Yuki said.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise, Yuki," Dylan quirked an eyebrow.

"Awe, sure they do," Yuki assured. Suddenly, Yuki crawled out the window, clinging the laundry line that stretch from Yuki's room's window to Nathan's living room window. She crawled swiftly across, being careful to gently throw the clothes on the floor so they fell elegantly. She finally got to the window where Jade was holding a pillow in her lap with her legs hanging out the window.

"I got the pizza, you got the money?" Jade asked a near whisper. Yuki look around a few times before handing Jade a twenty dollar bill.

"Yeah, just give me the pizza," Yuki said, looking for spies.

"Here," Jade threw the pillow back in the house and handed a pizza to Yuki, which the pillow had hidden.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Yuki grinned as she crawled across the laundry line again.

Dylan heard a noise coming from somewhere in the apartment, "Hey umm... Aunt Yang I think I hear ...mom?... she might come here you may need to stall her."

"I'll distract her. If Yuki gets in early, hide the pizza under her bed.," Yang ordered before springing to her feet and heading to the door. Dylan looked up from his novel.

"Right... Just don't over do it," Dylan said.

"Psh, over do it, of course not," Yang shook off as she slipped out the door to meet Ruby in the hallways

"We're doomed..." Dylan rolled his eyes.

"Heya, why are you not still at work? I thought you were working nightshift," Yang questioned, leaning against the wall. Ruby gave her a puzzled expression.

'Didn't she complain about me working too much yesterday?' Ruby thought to herself.

"Yeah I did but I asked for a bit of time off considering I don't get to spend as much time with you and the kids if I'm working all the time," Ruby answered, awkwardly.

"Oh, well Yuki, Dylan, and I are busy, so... yeah, why don't you go shower, you smell like grim," Yang said, gripping Ruby's shoulders and giving her a slight push towards the bathroom.

"Yeah your right I should probably... Wait what do you mean that your busy, busy with what?" Yang froze. What would be a good cover story? Playing twister? Nope, twister never ends well. Watching Corpse Party? No, Yang didn't want to die that night. Conquering the Kingdoms of Remnant? Worth a shot.

"Yuki's nearly conquered Remnant, Dylan's about to steal my navy, gotta go, take a bath, bye!" Yang said as she sprang towards the twins' room.

"Umm okay, hey I didn't know people still played that game," Ruby replied with a slight smile.

"Why wouldn't they?" Yang inquired. 'I'm dead.'

"I don't know it just seems kind of... Old..." Ruby explained.

"You mean that Utopia wasn't around at the time and Mistrol was a major power?" Yang asked

"Well actually I wasn't thinking of that I sort of meant the whole thing but now that you mention it yeah... Your hiding something aren't you," Ruby quirked an eyebrow. 

"Nah!" Yang grinned.

Ruby sighed, "Alright... If you need me you know where I'll be."

"Ok, bye!" Yang chirped

"Yeah you too I love you sis," Ruby said in a suspicious voice. No point in trying to figure out what was going on though.

"Love ya too, enjoy your bath," Yang said, slipping into into the room to see Yuki crawling back into the window.

"So what's she up to?" Dylan asked.

"Taking a bath, hopefully she stays in a while so we have time to eat and get rid of the evidence," Yang reported.

"Got it. Hurry up Yuki we've got to really scarf it down tonight!" Dylan complained

"Dinner is served!" Yuki cheered

"AMEN!" Dylan fell to his knees in front of the pizza

"I call the piece with the most ham!" Yuki exclaimed

"It's yours now give me a piece!" Dylan urged.

" Here, you take the one with the veggies, I don't like veggies," Yuki stuck out her tongue.

"Sure whatever we've just gotta hurry before Mom's done in the bathroom," Dylan said, grabbing the veggie peice.

" Gimme the piece with the garlic, Dylan," Yang said.

"Okay let's dig in!" Dylan exclaimed 

"Dylan! Be quiet, Mommy might hear us!" Yuki scolded 

" Yeah, kid, be a little quieter so we don't get caught," Yang said, glaring at the boy. Dylan sighed.

"Why'd I expect anything different?" Dylan mumbled under his breath.

"EW! A veggie! Dylan take it!" Yuki exclaimed, pointing to a mushroom on her slice.

"Mushrooms are not vegetables, they're fungus and they're a great addition to a healthy diet," Dylan told his twin.

"Healthy what?" Yuki gave him a confused look.

"Diet... Wait, you've never heard of a... Just enjoy your pizza," Dylan said, giving up all hope in Yuki.

"Ok, enjoy your slice... Hey, Dylan?" Yuki started.

"Yeah?" Dylan said between chewing.

"What's a fungus?" Yuki asked.

"Fungus are spore producing organisms that feed on organic matter," Dylan answered.

"Orcs?" Yuki cocked her head to the side.

"Or-gan-ni-sms, not orcs," Dylan explained.

"That's a big word... How'd you get so smart?" Yuki marveled in awe.

"Auntie Blake has a big library of her own and I like to read there a lot. You tend to learn things in libraries," Dylan answered.

"Cool, I never learn things from reading, just that math can't solve his own problems and thinks I'm the school consoler or something. I think he needs to man up and be responsible for his own problems, ya know?" Yuki asked.

"Umm I don't... Just eat your pizza... And give me that mushroom," Dylan said, extending his hand.

"You can have it, I don't trust this fungus thing. Mommy says that if you don't shower every day, fungus grows in between your toes. Who'd wanna eat toe veggies?" Yuki questioned, dropping the mushroom in Dylan's hand.

"Ugh, different fungus!" Dylan hissed in frustration.

...

"It's not the same!" Rick hurled a bottle of chemicals at the wall in frustration before angrily opening a notebook. "What did I even do the first time? I can't find that stupid page," Rick messaged his temples, trying to calm himself down, just when his scroll began to vibrate. He answered in a less than pleasant tone.

"Hey, Adam," Rick huffed.

"Is that anyway to talk to me? I'm the reason you're where you are today," Adam growled at the other end.

"Not exactly. You did give me the opportunity to work at the Ward, but I would've been living comfortably with or without you," Rick hissed.

"Whatever, how's the research going?" Adam questioned.

"You mean the research on mages? I'm a little nervous to actually prove anything, but I did some book work, it's a theory that mages get their magic from a mutated hormone. I believe it's microscopic dust. A type of dust that can't be naturally mined or even created. This could be the reason most mages have hypothyroidism," Rick said, reading the pages of another notebook.

"Why haven't you proven your theories?" Adam questioned.

"Because I'd have to dissect a mage, and I'm not going to hurt somebody for the sake of research. You can do it, but not me," Rick answered, closing his notebook and hanging up. Rick sighed before getting back to his cure search.

...

Cassandra slipped out to the balcony to look out at the city lights. The guest room of the Utopia Palace had a great view of the city, well at least the one Cassandra chose. Cassandra proffered the view of Innopilous and her great splendor, the sea of twinkling lights surrounding her rather than William's preference to see the palace gardens from his room. The gardens reminded Cassandra too much of her own homes. One, the Palace of Beleuchtung in Vale, her father's favorite of the many palaces own by the Valish royal family. Beleuchtung had a large palace garden filled the oddest of flowers. Grotesque even. Thorns. Thorns covered the palace and climbed its way up to surround the palace. In her mother and father's room, thorns covered the window, so if they had to jump, there'd be no escape. Cassandra's room wasn't as bad, but she hate the thorns. The maids would always cut off the bloom as a pink rose began to bloom. The roses were odd though, it alternated between three colors each growing season. First, the bud, before it'd open up completely to its greatest splendor, would be white like a freshly fallen snowflake. As it'd open up, the rose would turn bright green like the leaves in summer. Finally, the flower with whither, turning black and falling to its demise. Cassandra hated it when the servants cut the flowers, she loved the way they changed color, but only did she get to keep them once. It was upon request for her birthday that the flowers at her window were left to be, to grow and die without the harm of scissors. Snip snip. And like that, life can fall apart. Snip snip! The thread breaks and is thrown off into the abyss to rot. Snip snip! Roses fall on the ground to flavor Turkish Delight and be devoured. But then, there was the dreadful SLICE! Slice! A knife cut separates the meat into pieces. Slice! A new scar is added.

"Cassandra, it's getting quite late, why don't you tell your brother goodnight and crawl in bed," Weiss suggested, standing in the doorway. Cassandra snapped out of her daze and nodded.

"Yes, Mother, goodnight," Cassandra replied in a put on regal tone. Weiss leaned in to lightly hug Cassandra before heading off to her appropriate room with a simple, 'Goodnight'. Cassandra knocked on the door across the hall. Will opened the door, dressed in a over large Porsha tee shirt, Porsha themed sweat pants, blue bunny slippers, and a floppy blue night cap with a white cotton ball hanging off the end.

"Hi, Cass," Will grinned.

"Mother says-"

"Go to sleep, I know, goodnight, Cass," Will gave Cassandra a small hug before leaving. Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"Go to bed, don't just stay up watching cat videos!" Cassandra shouted.

"I won't!" Will replied with a nervous snicker.

"Whatever, I'm leaving, " Cassandra grumbled to herself before heading to her room and sitting at her vanity, the only lights provided being the lights from the city. Cassandra stared into her reflection, her silky white hair flowing down her back and curling in at the tips, her icy blue eyes staring into the reflection as if trying to study her own soul, and her porcelain skin flawless to see and gentle to touch gleamed in the lights. Cassandra observed her side, gently slipping her light blue tank top up a bit to examine several scars like slashes on her right side.

_ "RUN! GET OUT OF THERE, CASSANDRA!" _

_ "But my teddy!"_

_ "Leave it! CASSANDRA!"_

Cassandra flinched at the memory.

"I was a stupid child," she hissed at herself. "A stupid, stupid, _stupid_, child."

...

"Jade, it's time to hit the hay," Nathan walked into the living room where Jade was sketching.

"Daddy, why don't you ever talk about Mama?" Jade inquired.

"Jade, Pumpkin, it's too late for this," Nathan groaned.

"Sorry, I was just curious," Jade sighed before getting up and walking to her bedroom. Nathan followed her and kneeled beside Jade's bed.

"Jade, look, it's really complicated and I know you're pretty curious-"

"Well that's an understatement," Jade rolled her eyes.

"But, it's really complicated. Plus, she doesn't matter, you know that Ruby will make a good step mom to you, right?" Nathan asked.

"I'd rather have my real mom," Jade huffed, turning her back to her father.

"You've never met you're biological mother, how do you know she's a good mom?" Nathan asked.

"Because I just know. She can't have abandoned me, I just... She just couldn't have..." Jade began to cry a little.

"Well, let's just say, she's not going to be a part of your life any time soon, probably ever," Nathan said as he walked out and turned out the lights.

"She'll come find me, I know she will," Jade said stubbornly before drifting off to sleep.

...


	13. Daddy's Little Girl

_**Sometimes, we act before we think, and when we do so, we make mistakes that seem like no brainers later. One begins to regret everything, but such is life. Never in a million years would somebody choose to live out the consequences of their actions, willingly suffering. Our mistakes, our suffering shapes us as a person. Our temperament, our fears, our ability to love, it's all based off of life experience, but every so often, somebody will break the cycle and change. **_

_**But the scars still remain, right? **_

_**...**_

_**"You know, I always thought we'd stick together, as stupid as that sounds," Weiss sighed, watching Yang walk away from Beacon with her bag packed.**_

_**"It's not stupid. Or at least I don't think it's stupid," Blake replied, looking up from her book. The dorm looked much different with the sisters gone. Their beds were missing and the room was grotesquely clean and organized. Blake was stretched out on her bed while Weiss looked out the window, sitting on the desk. **_

_**"Are you going to leave too?" Weiss asked, her gaze downcast. Blake quirked an eyebrow.**_

_**"What makes you think that, we're so close to graduation. We've got one more year and you think I'm going to quit?" Blake asked. **_

_**"Well look at Yang, chickened out senior year, I can't believe her," Weiss scowled. **_

_**"She has her own demons to wrestle with. Besides, I'm sure she'll get her life together soon," Blake assured.**_

_**"You think?" Weiss asked, slipping off the desk and sitting next to Blake. **_

_**"Yeah, I really do. We have to have hope for her, otherwise who are we to call ourselves her friends?" Blake reasoned.**_

_**"I still can't believe she's walking away from us," Weiss sighed.**_

_**"It'll be the quietest night since Ruby's death," Blake commented.**_

_**"It will. I'm worried about Yang, who's going to make sure she's still here?" Weiss asked, a worried expression affixed on her pale features. Blake sighed.**_

_**"I don't know... Weiss I-...I don't know," Blake stuttered at a loss for words. **_

_**"I sometimes feel like I'm cursed to be alone. Everyone I've ever loved either leaves or dies. I just... I don't want to be alone," Weiss began. "The first one to die was my mother, then my friend Cassandra, then my best friend La-Nel, then my niece, then Ruby, now Yang. I don't want to lose you too."**_

_**"Did La-Nel die?" Blake asked.**_

_**"She's the one that lead me to despise faunus so much," Weiss sighed. "La-Nel was a cat faunus with brown eyes. She and I became close as children before Winter got kicked out of her position as heiress. We used to spend every moment together from the day we met to the day she died. Her mother joined the White Fang, but La-Nel refused to join. She knew she'd have to kill me, so she refused. Well, they mutilated her so badly the only way I knew it was her was the matching necklaces we had. I remember she died right in front of me, and a few days later, Winter had Annett and I was made heiress. That next fall, I was sent to Vytal's Academy for the Gifted and More Privileged and I was thrown into a group of people who didn't understand me. I was the weird kid nobody would talk to and often got made fun of. I ended up losing the one person who'd support me in that time to her own kind, how sick is that? I started to hate faunus, they took away my best friend and made my father violent. I just... I didn't think of the good faunus like La-Nel. In essence, I killed La-Nel's dream. She wanted people to see faunus as people, and if they worked hard to respect them, but if they didn't leave them in their misery. To never judge before getting to know them. You saved me from furthering my hatred."**_

_**"Weiss... I'm sorry that happened," Blake said, looking at the slightly crying girl next to her. **_

_**"I don't wanna be alone. So please, promise you won't leave me," Weiss sobbed. Blake wrapped her arms around Weiss, gently pulling the white clad girl into a hug.**_

_**"I'll never leave you. We'll always be friends," Blake whispered.**_

_**...**_

**"Come on, Weiss! It'll be fun and you need the break," Blake begged, tugging on Weiss' arm.**

**"Absolutely not! I refuse to go on a date with some mystery man!" Weiss exclaimed, crossing her arms and glaring at her friend.**

**"Come on, he's really sweet and you'll love him," Blake said in a convincing voice.**

**"You're probably setting me up with Neptune, am I correct?" Weiss quirked an eyebrow.**

**"No, better," Blake said.**

**"Who then?"**

**"Secret!"**

**...**

"Mikonamba!" Yuki and Jade cheered, holding out their big bags to be filled with sweets. A man chuckled and handed them both a handful a candies.

"You two ladies look cool," the bull faunus complimented.

"Thank you, mister. I'm Army Tinkerbelle," Yuki striked a pose happily.

"And I'm an emo street thug," Jade grinned.

"Well those are some interesting costumes, my daughter over there is a zombie version of Rosemary Schnee," the man motioned to a little girl who was fiddling a candy.

"Stabbed to death and chopped up during the Schnee massacre during the Great War," the girl added, motioning to her costume.

"Have a lovely day," the man said as Yuki and Jade awkwardly walked back to Yang who was taking them on a mikonamba spree. As the three walked away, the little girl stretched tiredly.

"Daddy, will the queen hurry up and get here?" the girl asked, her cat ears sagging to her face.

"Patience, Makoto, patience," the man ruffled the girl's wig. "You can hand out the candy for a while, you've been doing a good job re-sealing."

"Ok, Daddy," Makoto replied, getting up and sitting on the porch in front of the man, who began dripping a black substance into opened candy wrappers, then re-sealing them.

...

"Ms. Xiao Long," Jade groaned, holding her stomach tightly. Yang turned around from adjusting Yuki's sniper rifle, making certain the little trickster didn't have any amo for the fifth time that night.

"What is it, Jade?" Yang bent down to Jade's level.

"I feel sick. Can we go home?" Jade asked in a pained voice. Yang nodded before patting the girl on the back.

"Too many sweets, huh?" Yang asked in a gentle tone.

"I guess so," Jade nodded.

"Come on, Snowflake, we're going home," Yang called to Yuki.

"But why!?" Yuki cried.

"Jade's feeling sick and besides, it's getting late. You've gotta get packing for going to your dad's house tomorrow," Yang answered. Yuki sighed before stomping over sadly.

"I will let you have extra candy tonight," Yang said, trying to get a smile from her niece. Yuki grinned.

"Yeah, what Mommy doesn't know won't kill her," Yuki enthused.

"That's my girl," Yang chuckled before looking over at a groaning Jade, who was growing stiff. "Are you ok?"

"No, my head's pounding, my tummy hurts, my throat's soar, and I feel like my lungs are on fire," Jade answered in a weak tone. Yang scooped up the ten year old and began to run towards the apartments.

After rushing into the door, Yang set Jade on the couch gently, moving the music magazine so the girl could lie comfortably. Jade began to shiver violently, so Yang draped a blanket over her before running towards the kitchen in Nathan's apartment. Nathan had been eating a late dinner when he noticed Yang.

"What are you doing here?" Nathan growled under his breath.

"Look, something's wrong with Jade, she's getting sick, I need a diagnostic is she allergic to nuts or something like that?" Yang asked. Nathan ran to the living room to see Jade shivering and mumbling about her stomach ache upon other things.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Nathan said after chucking on Jade. "I don't think this is just a stomach ache, did she eat something weird?"

"No, just three pieces of candy," Yang replied.

_"Jade, only three pieces, ok? I don't want to get in trouble with your dad for letting you gorge yourself on sweets. You had a cookie at my place, remember?" Yang instructed._

_ "Are you sure you ain't a mom?" Jade quirked an eyebrow._

_ "Why would you say that?" Yang asked. "Do I look like I have kids to you?"_

_ "Nah, you just sound like it," Jade popped a piece of chocolate into her mouth. "I'm guessing yours was pretty strict?" _

_ "No, she was absent, I made my own rules for Ruby and I," Yang replied._

_ "Oh, so you just practiced the nagging mother thing on your sister? If that's the case why don't you have any kids?" Jade questioned, unwrapping a lolly pop in the process. _

_ "Because I just don't, stop asking questions, kid," Yang ended the conversation._

_ "Whatever," Jade mumbled with a lolly in her mouth. "Hey, what are you supposed to be, some kind of lonely old lady with dementia that thinks she's in high school?"_

_ "Haha, very funny, I'm a school girl," Yang glared._

_ "Where'd you get the costume?" Jade asked._

_ "This is my old uniform from when I was at Beacon," Yang replied._

_ "I thought you were a chef? Ain't Beacon for huntresses and hunters and what not?" Jade asked._

_ "Yeah, that was the plan, but I dropped out," Yang explained._

_ "Drop out eh?" _

_ "Yeah, I dropped out, worked minimum wage a few years, then went to cooking school," Yang explained._

"Go call an ambulance, this can't be good," Nathan instructed, checking Jade's temperature. "OW!" Nathan looked at his hand, which had a big red burn mark on it from touching the child's face.

"They're on the way, how's she holding up?" Yang came back into the living room.

"She's burning up, literally, look at my hand," Nathan showed Yang his injured hand.

"Umm...My bad?"Yang awkwardly said, unable to really respond.

"Auntie Yang, is Jade going to be ok?" Yuki asked.

"I have no idea, Snowflake," Yang sighed, gently caressing the faunus' black cat ears while reaching her other hand out to stroke Jade's unruly hair.

...

"We need this room, ma'am you need to leave," a doctor came running in. Ruby looked up from stroking Dylan's hand and looked at the doctor.

"What's going-"

"Just leave, there's been an emergency, we need this room," the doctor urged. Ruby looked at Dylan, who looked up from his book and right at Ruby.

"It's ok, I'll be fine by myself. I'm sure that I can see you later," Dylan replied.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked.

"I'll be fine, Ru-... I'll be fine..." Dylan caught himself, before setting his book down with a colorful bookmark Yuki had given him.

"O-Ok," Ruby replied in a rather sad tone before leaving. As she left she saw bunch of doctors and nurses surrounding what looked to be a little girl as they rushed her into the room.

"Let me in!" Nathan yelled, looking as if he would punch the doctor in the face if he denied him entrance.

"Look, Mr. Wilson, we can't let you in. She's in critical condition, her heart completely stopped in the ambulance and-"

"She needs me-"

"To stay out here and wait on her. I know you're worried, but Jade's in good hands. We're professionals, remember?" the man assured.

"Who exactly is working on her?" Nathan asked.

"Dr. Patrick Belladonna, he's one of our most prized specialists, he's got experience in several different fields as well as being a great chemist. Jade will be just fine," the doctor assured. Nathan sighed.

"If she dies, I'll burn this hospital to the ground," Nathan glared before walking away to where Yang and Yuki were sitting.

"Nathan, what's happened?" Ruby asked.

"Jade, we're not sure what happened?" Nathan growled.

"Was she attacked?" Ruby asked.

"No, something internally is wrong," Nathan responded.

"We were going on a mikonamba spree and Jade started saying she felt bad so we began to walk home and she said she felt like her lungs were burning, her stomach hurt, her throat hurt, and she was getting stiffer in movements. I carried her back to the apartment and we had to get her an ambulance. I don't know what happened," Yang explained.

"Blood came out of her mouth," Yuki shuddered.

"Coughing up blood?" Ruby froze.

"Throwing up is more like it," Yang corrected. "That poor little girl, she must be hurting so much right now."

...

"Daddy," Makoto began, dressed in a pink nightgown with a cute cartoon character on it. The bull faunus turned from a few other faunus to face the little girl.

"Makoto, Daddy needs to finish discussing big plans with the other good guys," the man knelt to her level.

"Adam, have you turned soft on us?" one mocked.

"Shut up and finish drawing your cutesy diagram!" Adam shouted before turning back to Makoto. "Can you be a good girl and wait for me to finish up?"

"A-As long as I get to stand next to you," Makoto shuddered.

"Of course," Adam grabbed the child's smaller hand and led her to a table where several White Fang members were discussing course of action in Utopia.

"These cowards need to be taken care of so we can conquer the rest of Vytal."

"But how, the queen isn't dumb enough to let us into a position of power and these people aren't oppressed."

"Attack a weak point. We were close when the first prince died and we snatched up the second princess. If we can get a hold of the other three brats, maybe we can take over."

"Daddy, what's happening?" Makoto asked, tugging on Adam's sleeve. Adam looked down at the little girl.

"It's ok, nothing bad's going to happen, I promise," Adam replied.

"But you guys are going to hurt someone again," Makoto reasoned.

"We have to weaken a traitor. This woman betrayed the White Fang, she has to be punished for that, do you understand?" Adam explained. Makoto nodded.

"Don't hurt her too badly, Daddy, I don't like seeing people get hurt too badly," Makoto pleaded.

"Nothing more than the necessary, my dearest Makoto," Adam promised.

"So we'll strike at eldest first?"

"Yeah, Molly Kirantinia Wu'Kong. She's the first to go. Then Jakobledd Artokom Wu'Kong, and finally, Jenipharantia Melanitiannetta Wu'Kong."

"Why such complicated names?"

"They're traditional. Well, Molly isn't, but the rest are either Donnitorian or Vacuian."

"Meeting dismissed."

Makoto looked up and Adam, who quickly knelt to Makoto's height.

"What's bothering you, my dearest Makoto?"

"I had the nightmare again," Makoto said shyly.

"The one where the scary people grab you and put a blindfold on you?" Adam asked.

"That one," Makoto nodded.

"Well, that'll never happen, I would never let you get hurt like that," Adam scooped up Makoto and walked up the stairs to Makoto's bedroom. Everything was pink, from the carpet to the lights. Makoto had several pictures of cutesy princesses on her walls and well as a princess looking canopy over her bed. Unlike most child rooms, Makoto's was spotless, all of her dress up in her treasure chest trunk and her princess dolls in the castle. Adam lied Makoto in her pink bed and tucked her in. Makoto grabbed her Strawberry Shortcake rag doll and cuddled it in her arms.

"Nothing will ever hurt you, Makoto, you are safe, ok?" Adam assured.

"Ok, Daddy, goodnight," Makoto's eyes fluttered shut.

...

"Nothin's gonna get you, Jade," Nathan brushed the untamed hair out of Jade's face as she lied there, motionless on a hospital bed, connected to many machines. "Not ever."

"Nathan, right?" a voice came nervously from behind. Nathan turned to see Rick wringing his wrists in an anxious manner.

"Yes?" Nathan quirked an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to congratulate you, Ruby's a great woman, you're really lucky to have her," Rick started.

"How do _you_ of all people know about my relationship with Ruby?" Nathan said in a threatening tone.

"Yuki talks a lot," Rick chuckled before gaining a straight face again. "And I hope things work out for Jade. I couldn't imagine anything like that happening to Yuki."

"What even happened?" Nathan asked.

"Black dust.. It's the most toxic chemical you could possibly put in your body. It's used in a lot of poisons. It colors things a black color and cause your stomach and lungs to bleed excessively and sometimes, if in your system long enough, eats them away," Rick explained. "It's quite fascinating actually. I studied the effects of black dust a few years ago. A while back, a lot of teens died from injecting it in their wrists when they couldn't afford brown dust anymore."

"Will Jade survive?" Nathan asked, not wanting to hear a mile long rant about black dust. Rick sighed.

"I honestly don't know. We did our best to get it out of her system, but she's lost a lot of blood and she's in really bad condition, it depends on how strong her aura is if I'm going to be honest with you," Rick admitted.

"She's always been a tough one," Nathan said.

...

"What's on your mind, you look a bit down," Blake asked, walking out to the patio where Sun was sitting.

"Lila... Didn't she go missing on this date?" Sun asked.

"Tomorrow, actually, it'll be the eighth anniversary since she went missing," Blake replied.

"Oh yeah... Three days before the anniversary of Yuri's death," Sun responded emotionlessly.

"Yeah, this week just sucks," Blake replied, setting her book on the railing.

"Do you think she's still out there?" Sun questioned, finally making eye contact with Blake. Blake shook her head in dismay.

"No, I doubt it," Blake replied sadly.

"But what if she's alive?" Sun asked.

"That wouldn't mean she'd recognize us or that we'd even recognize her. For all we know, she could've frozen to death on the streets, or been raised in an orphanage, or even taken in by somebody else. Then what? We just take her from the only family she's ever known? We'd be doing the same thing to them what somebody else did to us," Blake ranted. "The whole situation's hopeless."

"That's not true. I mean, think of the twins. They're somewhat becoming a family again. And what about Rick in general? I mean, you thought he was dead all those years and he thought he'd never see Yuki again," Sun explained, trying to bring a smile to Blake's face, but to no avail.

"That's a one in a million chance, Sun, it'll never happen," Blake sighed before beginning to walk away.

"Well we're already a one in a million kind of family. You've literally rose to your position as queen from starvation, I never thought I'd see a day I wouldn't have to steal to eat, Molly's smart, Jake's really athletic, and Jeni's been turning bricks into bunnies since she was a few months old," Sun pointed.

"And then there was the lovely carrots into cake incident," Blake chuckled.

"See, all kinds of unexpected. Never close the door on the thought that Lila's still out there and we'll see her again. I haven't," Sun said.

"Where would we even look though?" Blake asked.

"I have no idea, but I've had the secret services looking for her ever since the day she went missing. Even sent some people to Vale," Sun explained.

"I know Weiss sends out a search party every year in Atlas," Blake commented. "No results yet."

"Then you just gotta be patient right?" Sun elbowed Blake playfully.

"Yeah... Patience..."


End file.
